There You'll Be
by Danigirl32
Summary: AU Fic Based on Current Storyline Summary: Jason Morgan and Elizabeth Spencer spent one night together and it was never supposed to be more than two friends finding comfort in the midst of their pain.
1. Chapter 1

It's been a while since I've worked on a Liason story but with the scenes on GH recently my affection for the couple has come to life again. I want to thank everyone who reviewed my other fics. I haven't forgotten the unfinished one, I just wanted to work on this one.

Summary: Jason Morgan and Elizabeth Spencer spent one night together and it was never supposed to be more than two friends finding comfort in the midst of their pain. Old feelings were exposed, yet they were resolved to find a way to move on with their troubled lives.

Only now she's pregnant and it's his child.

Rated: M  
Disclaimer: I don't own them, I just like writing about them

Hope you like it ;)

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**_There You'll Be_ **

Prologue

"So."

"So."

The night before seemed like a moment out of time. What had started as two broken people coming together trying to find comfort had morphed into something that neither of them could have anticipated.

He had come home, broken and devastated after witnessing the woman he loved in the arms of another man. Of a man that he despised. Seeing her moving on with her life would have hurt, but he knew that if he told himself that his feelings didn't matter he would have survived it.

If he told himself enough, his heart might actually start believing it. Only his heart had finally made his stubborn head understand that he needed her.

Nothing could have prepared him for what he'd seen. The fact that he'd come to realize that he needed her in his life and had gone to ask for her forgiveness was forgotten in the face of that agony. How he made it back to his penthouse, up the long flight of stairs, he could barely remember.

All he could see was the image of his enemy's mouth on his woman.

Too little too late.

He'd tried to drown his thoughts in alcohol, blur the picture from his mind someway, so that he didn't walk back out of the penthouse with his gun and do something he wouldn't necessarily regret. Only it wasn't working.

Then his doorbell rang and there she stood.

In her eyes he saw pain. The same pain that flooded his being.

In her eyes he saw devastation. The same agony that he didn't know if he could survive.

In her eyes he saw understanding. And that had gave him the strength to reach out.

It was wrong. She was married, despite her troubles. He was engaged, despite his denials.

Yet it was one night and he had needed and so had she.

So he poured her a drink and they drowned their sorrows, but somehow in the midst of pain they took comfort in the friendship that had somehow survived through the years. Memories that had been buried resurfaced, forgotten emotions brought to life.

And he had taken a page from an old book and decided to live for the moment.

There in the moment, with the candlelight and tequila, he didn't think of right and wrong. All he thought of was needing to make some of the pain go away. Just for a while.

He hadn't expected her taste, the feel of her hair.

He couldn't have anticipated the feel of her skin against his.

They way their bodies felt moving together. The emotions that poured through him and echoed in her eyes, surprise, desire.

And when the past was spoken, the feelings placed back into memories where they belonged the only thing each of them could do was go back to the lives they had just stolen time from. She didn't belong in his world, he didn't belong in hers and they were in love with other people.

Yet they would always have this night and it was enough.

"What will happen when we see each other again?"

"I don't know," he shrugged, a bit unsure as well, "We'll be the friends that we have always been. I meant what I said, if you ever need me, I'll be there."

"So did I," she murmured, adjusting her purse beneath her arm, so that she could lay her palm against his cheek one final time.

"No Regrets."

"No Regrets." She leaned forward to press a kiss to his mouth, one final taste before finally turning to walk away.

One last touch of warmth before he was left to the emptiness of his life once more.

It would have to be enough.


	2. Chapter 2

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Here is the first chapter.

Rated: M

Disclaimer: I don't own them I just like righting about them

Hope you like it ;)

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**_There You'll Be_**

Chapter One

One moment.

That's all it took to change a life forever.

Elizabeth Spencer, Liz, to her friends and family, replaced the patient chart and felt a smile curve her lips as she glanced up to see the infamous flirt Dr. Patrick Drake trying to ply Robin with his charms. Over the past few months since the incident in the OR, she had seen a change in the arrogant doctor, watched as he and Robin grew closer. Now she was witnessing what she figured had been there all along. Beneath the playboy exterior was a good heart.

With Robin that smile wasn't as cocky, but gentle. Tender.

She only wished her stubborn husband could understand that. Despite all of her protests, he still couldn't quite let go of his belief that she and Patrick had something going on between them. Admittedly, her own pride prevented her from truly making him understand that nothing was going on. Inwardly she had been a little insulted that he could distrust her so easily.

Life had been so difficult since their marriage begun. Lucky's various injuries, the astonishing hospital bills that neither of them could see their way to paying, the surrogacy fiasco and allowing Nikolas to pay off the bills all contributed to Lucky's deteriorating self-esteem.

Then his partner, Jessie, was killed in the line of duty and Lucky blamed himself. Manny Ruiz kidnapped her from the hospital and Lucky had been hurt yet again, leaving him not only physically injured but emotionally as well. He so desperately wanted to be the hero for her.

She knew she wasn't innocent in all of this. Her priorities had been on paying their bills, taking care of Cameron, that she had forgotten that a man's ego was a delicate thing. Seeing the playful banter that she and Patrick occasionally engaged in was misunderstood. For her it was innocent. She loved her husband and the idea of cheating on him with Patrick, an admitted flirt, was ludicrous, only Lucky hadn't seen it that way.

In the end, that jealousy had led their marriage through a downward spiral that had bottomed out two months ago with her walking in on him and Maxie Jones in bed together and her discovery of his addiction to pain medication.

That moment she saw them together had been like a knife to her heart.

A moment that had changed her life forever.

Now they were trying to put back together the broken pieces of their marriage. It was hard and there were days when she would look across the table at Lucky and wonder if it was all truly worth the effort. He was going to NA meetings and they seemed to help with his addiction. Helping him go through withdrawal had been a horrific experience.

She was forced to leave Cam with her Grams for several days until Lucky finally dried out. During those days there had been lots of cursing and anger. Lots of pain. Yet her determination and Lucky's perseverance had dragged him through. If only that was the end of it. Now there was the physical pain he had to deal with from his back injury that didn't heal properly as well as the cravings for the drug.

There had been stops and starts to the process, including one vicious fall off the wagon when he had climbed into bed with Maxie one final time.

So far Lucky was clean. He was attending his meetings, calling his sponsor if he was feeling susceptible and taking physical therapy. He was forced to desk duty until he could pass the police physical as well as the mandatory counseling due to his drug abuse.

They were fortunate; Mac could have fired him after finding out everything that had gone on between Lucky and Maxie. Not just as her father, but as his boss, he had every right to do so. If that had happened they would have been right back into the hole that had started this mess in the first place. Yet Mac had taken into account Lucky's record, his previous injuries, and the fact that he had a family to support and given him a chance.

Every time she thought about that close call, she grew furious. Yes, she had neglected their marriage but Lucky could have, the thought broke off as she struggled to take a deep breath against the nausea that swam through her like a vicious wave. She closed her eyes, gripping the counter, feeling all of her pores open as a light film of perspiration covered her face and neck.

That was the second time this week that had happened.

The first time was after a long shift and she was dressing to go pick up Cam so they could go home. She hadn't eaten much all day, a quick cup of tea that morning and half a slice of toast that she really didn't have time for. Cam had been in a mood that morning, wanting to go out to play instead of getting dressed for daycare. Every time she tried to getting his shoes on he would kick them off and pout a loud, "NO!" making her feel guilty.

She had to grit her teeth through tears and frustration as she tried to make him understand that she had to go to work. Lately all she did was work. Work at the hospital. Work at her marriage. Work at helping Lucky with his addiction. Work at trying to forget her pain.

She couldn't blame Cam; it had been a nice autumn day. If their lives had been just a bit normal, she could have promised to take him after work. She would have called Lucky and they would have met there to spend the late afternoon with Cam having fun. Afterwards, they could have stopped at Kelly's for dinner and maybe on the way home picked up some ice cream and a movie for later on where they could cuddle on the couch together after Cam was asleep.

That was before. Now there wasn't any cuddling on the couch, no smiles or laughter. Just a tension that they both tried to ignore, pretend didn't exist.

At work Patrick had pulled her into the OR for two surgeries, the last going through her lunch break, so she had been forced to grab a limp turkey and Swiss sandwich out of one of the vending machines, along with a small bottle of juice that had to be gulped down when she had been paged.

The nausea had hit as she was bending to lift Cam up and she was forced to sit down on the floor until the room stopped spinning. She had put the lightheadedness down to lack of food, stress and just plain fatigue. Yet, as Cam had climbed into her lap with that worried expression on his face, it worried her enough to promise to take better care of herself. She couldn't afford to be sick right now.

"Elizabeth are you okay?"

She glanced over to the concerned voice and the gentle hand on her shoulder. "I'm fine." The doubt on Epiphany's face was enough to make her try to form a smile, "No really, I just didn't have lunch today that's all."

Epiphany was the 'mother' of the staff. A smart assed, take no shit mother, but she looked after her nurses. Whether they wanted it or not. She demanded her staff be quick, efficient and accepted no excuses for poor performance. "They were in the business of saving lives," she often said, "Life doesn't wait for you to pull yourself together."

Epiphany looked down at her watch, "I know you just assisted Dr. Drake in surgery, so you're due a break."

"I have," Liz stopped at the firm look in her dark eyes.

"I said you're due a break. I'll get someone to cover you," then those stern eyes filled with concern, "Go get something to eat, go on your lunch break now. Take a moment to rest; it'll be here waiting for you."

Liz swallowed as she forced back the tears that tried to fill her eyes, partially shamed that everyone seemed to know the difficulties that she and Lucky were going through. She tried to keep her problems away from the hospital, finding these halls the only solace from the tension back home.

"I'll be in the cafeteria then," she relented, knowing there was no use in arguing with her.

"Put something solid in your stomach Spencer or I'll send you home for the rest of the day." Epiphany finished as she practically shoved her out of the nurses station.

Laughter, something that had been in short supply, lilted free as she walked toward the elevator. After pressing the call button she pushed her hair back from her face. She would stop at the locker-room for her purse, maybe a band so she could pull her hair back from her face then head down for something to eat.

Just as the elevator started for her floor, the nausea returned with a vengeance. She slapped a hand against the wall, trying to steady herself as the lobby began to waver sickeningly before her eyes. As she struggled with her next breath, her stomach clenched and the need to vomit hit her with the force of a gun. The doors slid open and the two passengers blurred as everything went frighteningly black.

"Thanks for taking me to lunch Jason."

"No problem," he shrugged slightly, inwardly pleased that Emily seemed to enjoy herself today. Their relationship had been through a lot these past months and though they weren't as close as they used to be they were finally able to be together without that previous strain.

Perhaps it was best that way. Emily no longer looked at him as the big brother with all the answers, infallible. She finally saw that he was just like everyone else with his own set of fallacies and problems. Their relationship had moved past big brother, little sister, to adult siblings who loved each other.

He leaned back against the wall of the elevator as they rode up to her floor, discretely checking to see if she was as relaxed as she seemed. After she and Sonny broke off, she seemed to falter for a while, had devoted herself to school and her pursuit of becoming a doctor. Now she seemed to have found a healthy balance. Her eyes were happier, perhaps more so than he'd seen in a long time.

"Well, what do you think?"

"What?"

A smile curved her lips as she folded her arms across her chest in amusement, "You were the one checking up on me. So what do you think?"

There was no use in trying to deny it, "I think you look content."

"I am," she reassured him, "So you don't have to worry about me Jase, I'm fine." Then her smile drifted away to that same concerned expression on her face that he'd seen when he first arrived at the hospital to pick her up for lunch. "You, I can't say the same for. When was the last time you had a good nights sleep Jason? I hardly ever see you, and every time you manage to look a little worse."

"I'm fine."

"You're not fine. You miss Sam."

"I don't-"

"You miss Sam," she insisted gently, "I know it's been hard for you, but Jason don't you think this has gone on long enough. You love her and I know she loves you still. There has to be some middle ground."

"My life is dangerous Emily, I don't want her exposed to that," yet even as he said the words, they sounded wrong. It wasn't the reason they weren't back together, but it was a good excuse.

"Sam had no problem with your life when you first got together, so I don't understand what the problem is now Jason." Then she placed an arm on his, "Is it because of Ric?"

It wasn't a secret that Sam had slept with Ric; it had after all caused a lot of damage when the truth finally came out. Truthfully, that was part of the reason, because part of him just couldn't get past it. That bastard had caused too much pain to people that he cared about. If she had slept with anyone but Ric, yet she hadn't.

"No," he answered, "Maybe," he amended, "It isn't that simple Emily."

"Then explain it to me Jason because I don't understand. If the two of you love each other, you should be able to work through your problems."

"I feel like there was some truth to what Alexis said."

"Jason you know that Alexis is a bit fanatical when it comes to your and Sonny's work."

"No," he shook his head, "Not that, I mean at how dependent on me Sam became. When she was living with Alexis, Sam went to school, was working and I know there was a part of her that liked that."

"Okay, so what does that have to do with you being apart?"

"Would she have done that if we stayed together?" It bothered him the way Alexis badgered Sam about saying he was her whole life. It made him take a good long look at their relationship. Outside of Emily, she didn't have any close friends. She had lost all of her family until she discovered that Alexis was her mother. The business kept her isolated because she was under guard.

He often wondered how Carly had managed to build a life for herself under such constraints. Now that she and Sonny were divorced, she had a career she seemed to like, family, and though she didn't have many friends, Carly seemed comfortable with herself.

Sam never seemed that way. Beneath that strong exterior was a vulnerability that was easily wounded and when he hurt her by ending their relationship she seemed to lose herself.

Now she seemed to be slowly building a life for herself and he didn't want to interfere with that. It didn't seem right to interfere with that.

"I don't know, but again that's her decision to make Jason's not yours."

"I know. I'm not staying away from Sam to protect her," he released a breath, "I just don't know if I'm supposed to be in a relationship. I can't seem to get them right."

"Well," she paused, "When you think about it, you're relatively new to the whole relationship business."

"What? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means, when you woke from your coma you were essentially a blank slate. All your experiences, growing up, maturing, they were wiped away. So you've been pretty much winging it for years now."

"Winging it?" the incredulity in his voice undeniable.

"Yes. I mean think about it. Robin, Carly. Courtney and Sam. You've had four relationships in your life Jason; it takes time to learn how to navigate the whole man/woman thing."

"Are we having this conversation?" He lifted an eyebrow.

"It's true!" she laughed at him, "We're all guilty of coming to you with our problems and you're such a good listener that we forget that you're just doing the best you can. You never try to tell us what to do, and it seems like you're giving great advice but what you're really doing is allowing us the chance to figure out what we need to do."

"I think we can safely say, I no longer qualify for never trying to tell anyone what to do."

"Maybe," she agreed, "But maybe that's why it was so difficult to understand why you would do it. You finally felt strongly about something and you acted on it," she rolled her eyes, "Good or bad, they were your feelings and you were entitled to them, just as much as I was entitled to mine."

"I still shouldn't have tried to push my opinion off on you."

"No, you shouldn't," then she smiled reluctantly, "But I shouldn't have expected you not to have feelings at all." She shook her head, waving a hand slightly to dismiss the subject, "That's not the point."

"There's a point to this?"

"Yes. My point is," then she shook her head in defeat, "My point is I love you Jase, and I just want you to be happy. If that happiness is with Sam, I don't think you should let that chance slip away."

"Are you sure you and Carly haven't been talking," he smiled at the shocked look on her face, "because she said the exact same thing to me not two days ago."

"I hate to be in agreement with Carly on anything, but she's right."

"My life isn't exactly conducive to happiness Emily."

She seemed to think for a long time, and he figured maybe she had let the subject go but then she said, "No one can go through life alone Jason. We all need someone to love, who loves us and offer comfort and support. We all deserve happiness. Perhaps it's time to do something about that then."

The elevator bell sounded announcing their arrival to her floor and he stood, as the doors slid open. Blinked in shock as he saw who stood before them.

Her face was pasty white, and she seemed frail. So damned frail.

The bottom dropped out of his stomach as he watched helplessly as her eyes rolled back in her head and she began to collapse.

"Liz!"


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks for the reviews, I really appreciate them. Glad you're enjoying the story so far. 

Rated: NC-17

Disclaimer: I don't own them, I just like writing about them

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_**There You'll Be**_

Chapter Two

His arms slipped around Elizabeth before she could crumble to the floor, making Jason release a shaky breath of relief. As he lifted her into his arms, he couldn't help but notice how slim she was, much smaller than her usually willowy figure. Long dark lashes lay on her cheeks that were so pale the sooty fringe looked like shadows. She murmured incoherently and turned into his arms, a hand sliding around his neck.

"Bring her over here," he was yanked out of his observations by his sister's worried voice. She was heading to the lounge, her steps quick and hurried. Jason followed after, gently laying Elizabeth across the couch then stepping aside so that Emily could examine her.

"What's wrong with her?"

Emily's head snapped around, a frown creasing her brow, but she answered, "I don't know. Stress?" She lifted Elizabeth's wrist, glancing down at her watch taking her pulse. "Her heart rate is accelerated, and she's pale. That could be fatigue."

"She looks sick."

"Stress and fatigue can be factors of their own, or signals of a larger problem."

"Shouldn't she be admitted or something."

"No," came a stubborn murmur as Elizabeth finally began to stir, "I'm fine. I was just a little lightheaded that's all."

"You passed out." She blinked a few times before wearily opening her eyes and sitting up. For a moment her eyes looked disheartened, as if the weight on her shoulders was starting to crush her, and he hated it. He wanted to shove her back down, if it got her some rest. What the hell had she been doing to herself to get this way? Was she really sick? Not discounting Emily, but she wasn't a doctor yet, so maybe they should get someone to look at Elizabeth.

"I didn't eat anything for lunch that's all."

"That's not all," but before he could continue Emily spoke up.

"I see Robin at the nurses' station; I can get her to come over just to make sure that you're okay."

"No," the obstinate woman insisted, "I'm fine. It's like I said, I was a little lightheaded because I missed lunch." Blue eyes pinned him with an insistent stare, almost daring him to object. At least that was better than that broken look in her eyes. "I was on my way down to the cafeteria. As soon as I get something to eat, everything will be okay."

There was no sense in persisting, because he knew once Elizabeth got that dogged look in her eye, nothing would change her mind. The fact that he would have preferred Robin to examine her didn't matter. "Jason, why don't you take Liz out to lunch?"

They both snapped around to Emily, seeing the smile on her face, "I think it's a good solution. Liz eats, and you can keep an eye on her to make sure that she doesn't have another fainting episode."

"I told you,"

"That's a good idea."

The frown on her face would have been frightening, if he didn't want to smile so badly. Instead, he settled for a bland expression, though he could tell Elizabeth wasn't fooled one bit. "It's that or I go get Robin."

"You're not the boss of me Jason."

"No, but you don't want us to make a fuss, right?" She huffed and rolled her eyes, "What you don't want to have lunch with me?"

"You know that isn't what I meant."

"Then let me take you to lunch."

Quiet stretched between them as she considered, "Fine. I need to get my purse. I'll meet you down in the cafeteria."

"No," he knew exactly the crap they sold in that cafeteria, he wanted something substantial in her stomach, "Meet me at the front exit; I'll take you to Kelly's."

"I don't have time for that," she tried to stand, and he watched her drag in a shaky breath, so he stepped forward placing both hands on her arms helping her to rise. Was surrounded by the scent of her. Sweet, feminine. A memory tried to resurface but he determinedly shoved it down. When she lifted her head, he could tell from the hint of heat in her gaze that she was doing the same. It was one of the first times he had touched her, since, and he was unprepared for the surge of feelings that swept through him. Frowning nervously, he took a step back, licking lips that had gone dry and had to look away from her.

"Kelly's or Robin," he insisted.

"Fine," she snarled and even that made his body react. He was going crazy. That was the only solution. She stalked toward the elevator, pushing the call button. She didn't turn back until the doors slid open and that same disgusted curl was on her mouth as she stepped inside.

"Jason?" He blinked at the sound of his sister's voice because for a moment he had completely forgotten her presence. She had a curious expression on her face which didn't bode well for her next words. "Do you know about Liz and Lucky's problems?"

He didn't know how much he should answer that question, he knew all about their problems. He just didn't know if Elizabeth had told Emily she told him, "That Lucky is in recovery?" He figured that much would be safe to reveal. It didn't tell how much he knew, or how he had come by that knowledge.

"Yes. I'm worried about her Jason, she takes on so much," Emily glanced back at the elevator Elizabeth had just entered, "Something's wrong. She doesn't talk to me or Nikolas anymore, just bottles it all inside when I know it has to be hard on her. I just wish there was something I could do to make this easier on them. Do you think if I took Cameron for the weekend to give them some time alone, that Elizabeth would be suspicious?"

Time for them alone, together. The words sat like lead in the pit of his stomach. Why, he refused to acknowledge. "Yes," he knew that was true. Elizabeth was extremely sensitive about things like that, people trying to do things for her. Yet, she might appreciate the time with Lucky alone, "But maybe she wouldn't mind," he forced himself to answer.

A relieved smile curved Emily's mouth, "Good, I think it would be nice for them to have some time together, maybe they could go out and do something."

"I should go," he stepped back before he could react to the image, "She will be downstairs waiting for me."

"Take care of her Jason."

He simply nodded, of course he would.

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The salty air coming in off the water carried a nice breeze that brushed across her warm face, making her close her eyes with pleasure. The remains of the turkey deluxe sandwich sat on the bench next to her and she held the small basket of fries in her hand, occasionally eating one as she watched the large ships on the water. There were a few smaller boats skimming across, taking in final days of warm weather that was gradually changing. Soon it would be too cold and those pleasure crafts would be stored for the winter. It was funny how life went on around her despite how much she seemed to be struggling.

She should be angry with Jason for blackmailing her out of the hospital for lunch, but couldn't find the energy to be. Besides, it was the first time someone had been concerned for her. Not for her and Lucky. As if she was an extension of his recovery and didn't have troubles of her own. As if their marriage had made them into one person, obliterating her individuality.

Jason had always seen her though.

Proven, when he called Kelly's enroute to the diner and ordered her lunch for carry out and brought her down here to the docks for lunch. She hadn't wanted to be bothered with the crowds, the suspicious glances in her direction. The pity. Too many people knew about the problems in her marriage. Too many were ready to offer their commiseration, or say how courageous she was for standing by Lucky. How to say there were days when she wanted to pack her bags, take her son and leave? That would surely shock everyone.

Everyone but Jason.

"I'm sorry I gave you such a hard time," she murmured, finally risking a glance in his direction. There had been silence between them since leaving the hospital. His only words, asking what she wanted for lunch. He had placed a gentle hand at the small of her back as he lead her down the stairs to sit on the benches, then sat a proper distance away saying nothing as she devoured the lunch he had bought her. As a token of truce, she held the basket over in his direction and smiled slightly.

Few people knew Jason Morgan had a thing for French fries. It was a secret she would always hold close to her heart.

An eyebrow lifted, but she knew he was tempted, "Go ahead, I'm stuffed."

"You should eat, you look like you've lost weight," concern filled those eyes out reaching the desire for his favorite.

"Then share with me," she insisted, closing the distance between them, curling her legs beneath her. He slipped an arm around her shoulders, and she settled into the curve of his shoulder releasing a breath of the first sense of peace she'd had in months. Jason reached down and took a fry, making her chuckle lightly and eat one herself. "How have you been?" She might have troubles of her own, but she wasn't blind. If she had lost weight, then so had he. His face was lined with fatigue, but now that it was just the two of them, she could see the desolation in his eyes. She appreciated that Jason could relax enough around her to reveal that vulnerability, yet she hated that look in his eyes.

"I'm fine," he murmured, after swallowing.

"Yeah, just like I'm fine," she muttered and lifted her bottle of water to drink several swallows, offered him some which he accpeted with a quiet thanks. "Have you spoken to Sam lately?"

By the line of tension that formed around his mouth, she took that as a definite no. Jason kept so much about his relationship with Sam bottle up inside of him. Anger. Guilt. Seeing Sam having sex with Ric had hurt Jason, but he believed he didn't have a right to those feelings because he had pushed her away. She would have been the first to tell him that his feelings weren't wrong or right. They were just his feelings and he was entitled to them. Suppressing them behind that protective wall he placed before himself and the world wasn't going to make them go away. Until he acknowledged them, they would always be there waiting to hurt him over and over again.

Yeah, and who was she to be offering advice to anyone.

"I don't," he paused and took a deep breath, "Yeah; she spends most of her time with Kristina and Molly now that Alexis is in the hospital."

It had come as a horrible shock to hear that Alexis was battling lung cancer. It made her problems with Lucky seem petty in comparison. There Alexis was, fighting for her very life, probably terrified that she would leave her children motherless and the only problem she had was a broken marriage. Hell, Alexis even had that, considering Sam and Ric had slept together. "So have you talked about your relationship?"

"We don't have a relationship," he frowned and lifted another French fry, "I'll be there for her if she needs me," he pursed his lips, "But the rest," he trailed off and she got the point. Jason wasn't willing to risk the rest.

"Do you still love her?"

"Do you still love Lucky?" he asked, and then remorse filled those cerulean eyes, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," she shrugged, "I asked you." Then she ate another fry as well, "I don't know anymore," she whispered as if saying the words out loud was blasphemous. "I'm supposed to love Lucky. We're married. We promised each other better or worse, but sometimes I feel like asking, when do we get to the better part." Because tears filled her eyes, she took a shaky breath, eyes blinking quickly to push them away. "Everything is so horrible."

And here with Jason, she could reveal truths that she couldn't share with anyone else, "Every day is like walking in a mine field. Lucky's so tense. Angry. I know its because of the drugs, but I'm so tired of watching what I say or do, wondering if something will set him off and he'll go looking for a fix. If he'll climb into bed with Maxie again once he gets it."

"Elizabeth."

But she continued on, needing to get it all out, knowing the comfort in his voice would break her, "Cam knows something is wrong, he just doesn't understand what. He's so confused, sometimes Lucky has good days, but there are more bad ones than good. Just the other day, he didn't want to go to daycare and he threw a tantrum." She gestured weakly, "Kept kicking off his shoes and telling me no."

Jason slid the basket of fries from her hand and set it on the bench, pulling her into his arms and the tears she knew were coming burst free. "I just don't know what to do anymore," she sobbed into his chest. "I'm so tired all the time. I go to work and take care of Cam, then I have to deal with Lucky and I feel so guilty because part of me doesn't want to deal with Lucky. I feel like screaming at him, how could he do this? How could he do this to me? And that sounds so selfish, because he didn't do it to me, but it feels like it Jason."

He said nothing, giving her the opportunity to cry, so she did, cried until her chest burned from it, until she felt weak and tired and there were no more tears left to shed. All the while, brushing a comforting hand over her head, his arms holding her so carefully. When the wracking sobs finally ceased, and silence stretched between them he finally said, "I don't know if I love her. I remember what we had. And part of me desperately wants that back. Yet, I can't get the image of her and Ric out of my head. I feel like I drove her to do that because I pushed her away. How do I move past that? That I drove the woman I loved into another man's arms because I was trying to protect her. Why do I have the right to feel hurt, Sam is the one who was hurt?"

His chest lifted, held for one long moment, the lowered as he released an audible breath, "I have no right to feel betrayed."

"You have the right to feel whatever you want," she murmured softly, "It isn't your fault that Sam slept with Ric."

"I pushed her away."

"And she's a grown woman!" Elizabeth sat up, ignoring that her eyes were probably red and swollen, her face puffy form the crying jag, "Yes, you pushed her away. Yes you hurt her, but you didn't make her sleep with Ric."

"If I just listened to her, if I hadn't tried to make decisions for her, it never would have happened."

"Really? So did you make that decision for her too Jason?"

"Of course not, but that doesn't mean,"

"It means that it happened. I'm sorry that you're hurting, but you can't take all of this on yourself. You hurt Sam, but just like you shouldn't have pushed her away trying to protect her, you shouldn't take on her actions as a result of them. You aren't her parent Jason. You aren't responsible for her choices." She touched a hand to his face, forcing him to look at her and the sorrow in his eyes broke her heart, "You're going to have to forgive her. And yourself."

"My life is still too dangerous," he murmured. "I don't know if I can keep her safe."

"What is safe Jason? Nothing is ever one hundred percent safe, life isn't safe." A small smile touched her lips, "Love isn't safe."

He nodded, and then a wry curve touched his lips, "I'm supposed to be taking care of you, not the other way around."

"Who takes care of you? Besides, I'm fine."

"And that's why you fainted," the disbelief in his voice plain.

"Extenuating circumstances," she shrugged, refusing to tell him about the other time. "I can take care of myself just fine."

"I know," he answered.

She glanced down at her watch, eyes widening as she realized she had been gone from the hospital for more than ninety minutes, "Epiphany is going to kill me." She grabbed the remains of her lunch and began shoving them back into the carryout bag. He took the garbage from her and neatly tossed it in the waste basket a few feet away. "I only get thirty minutes for lunch. Not an hour and a half!"

"If you tell her that you weren't feeling well,"

"No!" she cut him off, that was the last thing she wanted. Gossip ran rampant in GH as it was. If she told Epiphany that she fainted, there would be rumors spreading through the hospital that she was pregnant. "I just…" the thought trailed off from her lips as her heart hammered to a stop in her chest.

_Oh no_, the thought whimpered through her mind.

"What's today's date?" She demanded, confusing the hell out of Jason.

He blinked, probably wondering about the change of subject, "October twenty first," he answered.

_**Oh no.**_

Furiously she mentally counted back. Back. Back. Back to the first of August.

It was impossible.

"Elizabeth what's wrong?"

His voice sounded like it was coming from a long dark tunnel, she had to focus on his mouth make sense of the words he were speaking. How could she have been so damned blind? The lightheadedness. The fatigue. The nausea. They were all symptoms that she was terribly familiar with. She had been...no she shook her head, it was just stress. She was wrong. She went to the store last month to buy pads. Then she remembered how light her period was, and rather than the usual four days had only lasted two. Light spotting and no cramping at all. She had put it down to worry about Lucky. Yet if that were the case, she should have had her period by now. She was always very regular. It was long past the first of October.

No, it was impossible.

She hadn't had sex with Lucky since July. She had been too angry with him, and not ready to trust him with physical intimacy yet. Not after walking in on him and Maxie three times. She could barely stand to sleep in that bed. The very thought of having sex with Lucky in the same bed that he'd fucked Maxie made her stomach turn. So it was impossible.

"Elizabeth?"

She glanced into his questioning gaze and felt something shift within her.

If she was pregnant, it would mean that Jason was the father.

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A moment.

It only took one moment to change your life forever.

The small stick clutched tightly in her fist had certainly done so.

After picking up Cam from daycare, she had rushed to the store, grabbing a carry basket and tossing things inside. Nonsense things. A box of Cam's favorite cereal. Orange juice that she tried to ignore the strong craving for. _There was no craving. No craving at all_. Some of that bubble bath that he loved. A bag of chocolate striped shortbread cookies. Chicken breasts that she would cut into strips and bake with rice for dinner. Cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and blue cheese dip that her mouth practically watered for.

And a pregnancy test.

She set the stick down on the sink and picked up the instructions again, swimming in denial. She'd used this test before. Read these instructions. No matter how many times she read the words, if you get two lines you're pregnant, one line and you're not, the results would always be the same.

Two lines.

It was like once the knowledge had seeped into her consciousness her body caught up with it. Her breasts felt achy. Her stomach curiously tight. And with that knowledge came a jumble of emotions. Shock, terror, confusion and strangely happiness. After losing her last baby, she had been afraid of getting pregnant again. Afraid that she would lose another child before she reached the end of her first trimester. Happiness that she was closing in on the three month mark and so far nothing had gone wrong.

What would she tell Lucky?

He would know the baby wasn't his and that would beg the question of whose child she was carrying. It would destroy what was left of her marriage. She would be forced to reveal that the night of blackout she had slept with another man. Not Patrick as Lucky had always accused. But Jason, a man from their past who had always been a sore spot between them. She had cheated on her husband and kept it a secret. Yes she had been concerned about his recovery, but part of her didn't want Lucky to know. The night meant something to her, and she wanted to keep it's existence in her heart alone.

She remembered the day of their confrontation, how Lucky had apologized for accusing her of having an affair with Patrick, his absolute certainty that she would never cheat on him. She had been tempted to tell him then, but didn't know if it would come out in anger or if it would send him right out for his next fix. Now she would be forced to tell her husband and she didn't know what would happen next.

What would she tell Jason?

He was still in love with Sam, and they could possibly make their way back to each other, but a baby would complicate everything. Yet how could she keep this from him? She saw how Jason was with Michael and Morgan, he adored them. He was patient and kind, understanding. Loving. He would be more so with a child of his own.

She was pregnant with Jason's child.

There she'd admitted it. The one incredibly tender night they had spent together, had resulted in this life growing within her. She placed a trembling hand to her abdomen, feeling a sense of warmth spread through her. Love, already for this child, so unexpectedly strong surged to life.

She lifted the stick again. Two lines. It wasn't certain, she would still have to go to the doctor to confirm, and there was still the possibility that this was Lucky's child and she was off on the date of conception. A terribly slim possibility because her heart seemed to know the truth.

This was Jason's baby. She was having Jason's baby.

"Elizabeth?"

The masculine voice at her shoulder made her jerk in surprise. There was no opportunity to conceal what she was doing, so that she could break the news as gently as possible. She had thought it was safe to do this now. Lucky hadn't come home from work yet, she left Cam in the living room playing with his toys. After putting dinner in the oven, her patience finally ran out and she walked into the bathroom with the kit in her trembling hand. His wide eyes told her that he knew exactly what she was doing.

She hadn't even heard him enter the small apartment.

"Lucky, I," can explain? How could she explain what she was doing? Did it really require an explanation? She watched his face as he quickly put two and two together and came up with his wife being pregnant by another man.

"Who?" he growled angrily, "Who have you been fucking behind my back?" He stepped into the bathroom and slammed the door closed behind him. Stumbling back, her heels collided with the bath tub and she gripped the sink to steady so she wouldn't fall. "All this time, and you've been fucking someone. Is it Patrick?" His voice rose, filling the cramped space with the force of his fury. His eyes burned with rage, that it made her stomach clench. Lucky would never hurt her, she repeated over and over in her head.

Yet she would have said Lucky would never be an addict.

Lucky would never sleep with a girl barely over eighteen.

Lucky would never bring another woman into their bed.

She had to admit, that this Lucky wasn't the man she married and she had no idea what he was capable of.

Hands flashed out, quick and vicious, gripping her arms so tightly she gasped with pain. "Lucky stop, that hurts."

"It hurts?" he shouted, giving her a quick jerk that made her teeth snap together. "It hurts? You've been fucking another man behind my back," he paused, looked down and snatched the pregnancy test from her hand and shook it in her face, "You get knocked up by another man, and you say it hurts. I'm supposed to raise another one of your bastards and pretend like it's mine? What about how I feel, hun? How the hell am I supposed to feel?"

"I don't know!" she screamed, shoving him in the chest hard. The unexpected movement had him releasing his grip and falling into the door, his head striking the wood with a heavy thump. When he straightened, she flinched back and somehow that must have registered because he stopped short, blinking as if clearing his head of fog.

"Elizabeth," he reached out, hands supplicant, guilt in his eyes, "I'm sorry."

"Don't touch me!" He clenched his fists, closing his eyes. Perhaps this was just a symptom of his drug addiction. He sat down on the toilet, dropping his head in his hands. She tried to have some compassion for him, but those hateful words he had tossed in her face wouldn't let her.

"Is it Patrick's?" He asked softly, and though he seemed a bit calmer, the anger hadn't left his voice.

"No," she answered coldly, waited until he looked her in the eyes, "This bastard is Jason's. Now get the fuck out of my house."

The hurt in his eyes should have touched something in her, but she found she had nothing left for him. "Jason?" resentment flared briefly in his eyes but he cut it off, "I'm sorry Elizabeth. I didn't mean that, I was angry. You know I love Cameron. You know I didn't mean it."

"The man I married never would have said something like that to me. The Lucky Spencer I fell in love with never would have put his hands on me that way. I think that may have been the first honest thing you've said to me in months. I don't want you here, and I won't expose my _bastard children_ to you anymore," She gathered the pregnancy test up and tossed it into the waste basket, "Get out, Lucky. Now."

He stood, shoulders hunched over in defeat. Slowly he opened the door and they both saw Cameron standing on the other side, eyes wide. Scared. How could she have exposed her child to this? When Lucky chanced a glance back she said, "And don't come back."


	4. Chapter 4

Wow, more reviews. Thanks :) Here's another chapter. Hope you like it ;)

Rated: M

Disclaimer: I don't own them, I just like writing about them

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**_There You'll Be_**

Chapter Three

"Uh, Jason, Sonny's in the living room," Max held open the door for him, stepping aside so that he could enter. From the expression on his face, Jason figured this wasn't a good time, unfortunately, business couldn't wait and neither could this moment. After these several months today was the day. He had the meeting scheduled for later on tonight, all of paperwork in the folder underneath his arm and the sooner this was done, the better he would feel. "He has company," Max finished not even bothering to look him in the eye which could mean only one thing.

Sam.

The burst of giggles made something twist in his stomach, pulling him forward on stiff legs to bear witness to the scene unfolding. Sonny, Sam and Kristina sat on the floor playing tea party. If his heart hadn't been pounding in his chest, the sight would have been amusing. He figured this was Sam's doing, making Sonny sit on the floor holding the tiny plastic up in his large hand, pinky extended and pretending to sip a cuppa. Kristina and Sam were dressed identically in soft pink dresses, with large extravagant hats, white gloves and smiles.

Before he could leave them to it, Sonny glanced up with a look of extreme gratitude warring with pleasure at spending this time with his daughter. Sam followed Sonny's gaze, their eyes locking briefly before she quickly looked away. It wasn't the first time they had come in contact with each other, and in the beginning it had been easier for them. He had comforted her through the first stages of Alexis' illness, but realized his presence only caused more problems because he would find Sam looking at him with hope in her eyes. Hope he didn't know if he could give her. So he had carefully pulled away, hurting her once again, but it was better that way.

"I didn't mean to interrupt," he cleared his throat, and part of him wanted to walk away, but the biggest part wanted this over and done. Finished, so that perhaps his life could find some sense of normalcy. "It's business."

Sonny nodded, and then rubbed a hand over Kristina's head, placing a kiss on her temple, "Daddy will be right back okay?"

"Okay," Kristina smiled softly, "We should get more cookies and tea from the kitchen, Sam."

"Okay sweetie," Sam smiled in return, though he could read the relief in her eyes as well. "Let's go refill our tea pot," she rose carefully from her pillow on the floor, taking Kristina's hand and led her back to the kitchen. He watched her go with a lump in his throat, wondering not for the first time how he could have so carelessly destroyed what they shared.

"I'm sorry," he apologized but Sonny waved him off.

"I didn't know that Sam was bringing Kristina over today. Alexis was having a bad day, and she wanted Sam to spend some time with Kristina. Sam got the whole idea for tea parties and taking pictures so that Alexis could see."

Jason wished he could say that the matter could wait, but it would just be put off another day, then another. There weren't a great many things he wanted in life, and considering he had decimated his personal life, he could get this business in order. "I scheduled the meeting with the other families for tonight at ten," he slipped the folder from beneath his arm and set it on the desk facing Sonny. "All the accounts have been reversed to joint signatures." He inhaled deeply, feeling an unwanted weight slowly lifting from his shoulders.

A moment.

Life altering and all powerful.

His independence day.

"As of now, all territories, both here in the United States and Puerto Rico, are now under Corinthos control."

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"Where's Kristina?"

Sonny watched Sam glance around the room, probably looking to see if Jason had left or not. He was saddened that his best friend and Sam seemed to be unable to find their way back to each other. For once he could understand everyone's frustration with his inability to forgive. It was obvious they still loved each other, so what was keeping them apart.

"She went to the 'powder room'," a soft chuckle escaped as she sat down on the couch arranging the flounce of her skirt neatly around her legs. "Thanks for agreeing to this Sonny. I know it must feel a little ridiculous playing tea party."

"No," he chuckled, shoving his hands into his pockets; "Kristina had fun, that's all that matters." He closed the file that Jason had left for him and joined her on the couch. "Are you going back to the hospital today?"

"After I get the pictures developed," she gestured to the digital camera on the table, "I'm sure these will make Alexis feel much better than she was this morning."

"Is it the chemo?"

Sam nodded, licking her lips carefully, "It just wipes her out, you know?" None of them was unaffected by Alexis' fight with lung cancer and despite all of their differences had found a way to get along so that she concentrate on beating the illness without having to worry about petty fights. "I don't know if I ever thanked you for trying to talk me into staying here in Port Charles."

"You don't have to do that," he shrugged uncomfortable with the gratitude, "I'm just glad that you and Alexis are getting along better these days."

"You mean now that I'm not fighting her over Jason," Sam shot back, then closed her eyes slowly, "Never mind that," she muttered, "Yes, we're getting along, all things considered."

"Is Ric giving you any problems?" Sonny wasn't delusional, once his brother started obsessing on something he never put it away until something tragic or unforgivable happened. Sleeping with Sam, his stepdaughter and cheating on Alexis was only one part of a very large iceberg that extended deep within the cold depths of Ric's psyche. "I can have another talk with him."

"No, its fine," she attempted to reassure him, "I can handle Ric and his smug remarks about how I'm kissing up to Alexis and could care less about her." Then she carefully began tugging off the neat white gloves, setting them on the table, "In the beginning he was right. I could care less about Alexis, I hated her for helping to break up me and Jason, now," she shrugged offhandedly, "Now it doesn't seem all that important."

"Are you sure?" sonny asked gently, knowing this was still very much a tender topic for her, "Because if you still love Jason, it's not too late."

"It's too late Sonny," she released a shaky breath, "Only now I'm realizing it. Maybe before Ric, before he slept with Liz, we could have made it. But now, now it's just over."

Sonny didn't bother to hide his expression of disbelief, "Jason slept with Liz?"

Sam blinked, then covered her mouth nervously, "He didn't tell you? I thought for certain he would have told you, he tells you everything."

"That's not exactly true anymore Sam," Sonny sat back on the couch, still reeling from what she had just revealed. "Since Emily, well we're back to being friends, but it's not like before." And that was a little sad, because he missed that part of their friendship where each of them could confide in the other and the trust that had been between them.

"You can't tell anyone," Sam pleaded, "I shouldn't have said anything, but I thought you knew. I mean, between you and Carly, he always tells the two of you everything."

If Jason had told Carly about sleeping with Elizabeth Spencer, Carly definitely would have spilled it to him by now. So as far as he knew, Carly was in the dark as well. As a matter of fact, Carly was still working under the assumption that Jason should get back together with Sam, but perhaps this was why Jason was so quiet lately. Maybe Jason didn't want to get back together with Sam as much as everyone believed he did. Oh, there was no doubt that Jason was hurting, or that he loved Sam. Judging from the way he had looked at Sam just a few minutes ago, it was a definite. Yet, Sonny also remembered how Jason was when he was hung up on Elizabeth.

A lot like Robin in many ways, yet a lot like Sam in others, Elizabeth had managed to tie Jason in knots on more than one occasion. Their relationship, friendship, or whatever their confused connection had turned from a romantic sense to simple friendship over the past years, but evidently it had recently taken a different turn.

"Jason keeps a lot of things bottled up inside him Sam," Sonny told her, "You know that."

"We used to talk about everything, but now," Sam shrugged, unable to hide her pain.

"I don't know if Jason ever told you about the night me and Carly slept together for the first time," he glanced up at the stairs to make sure that Kristina had yet to come back down.

"He told me some of it, how he went to a meeting but it was an ambush and he got shot," she bit her lip seeming uncomfortable, "When he came back to your old penthouse, he found out you and Carly had slept together."

"That's right," Sonny nodded, "I thought Jason would hate us, and for a few weeks afterwards, he refused to even speak to us. He started spending a lot of time with Elizabeth, she was the one who found him in the snow, bleeding. Got him a doctor. He might have died if she hadn't found him."

"I don't really want to talk about Liz, Sonny, or hear about how wonderful she's supposed to be."

"This isn't about Liz, it's about Jason. He forgave us Sam, but with Carly, a line had been crossed and no matter how hard she tried to get back on the other side, Jason wouldn't let her. Now I know he wasn't in love with her like he is with you, but it's the way he protects himself. He did it with Robin, with Carly, and with Courtney. He shuts that part of himself off, and he doesn't look back. I don't know if that comes from his accident, or if it's the way he learned how to deal with emotions that he can't control."

"Then what you're saying is that we'll never get back what we had."

"No, what I'm saying is that I've seen a lot of changes in Jason since the two of you got together. Maybe it's just going to take a little time for Jason to move past the old way he used to deal with his emotions and learn to face them."

"Time," Sam shrugged tiredly, "I've spent too much time on Jason already. First with him pushing me away because he wanted to protect me and now because he thinks I betrayed him with Ric." She sniffed and blinked back tears, quickly wiping away the one that slid down her cheek. "I don't have any more time to give Jason. I'm not the only one at fault here. He pushed me away. He slept with Liz. He isn't blameless in all of this."

"No, he isn't," he agreed, "But no one punishes Jason better than he punishes himself."

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Every time Jason came back to this house it made him uncomfortable. He felt caged. Felt an almost desperate need to escape, and though he couldn't understand the emotions, knew they were just slightly irrational, that didn't make them any less real.

When Grandmother was still alive, he would come to visit sometimes, though he was shamed to admit, those times were very few. The most vivid memory he had of her was sitting in the kitchen with her having tea and eating peppermint candy. He remembered when he had shared that memory with Sam and she had asked if she could name the baby she was carrying Lila. He knew his Grandmother would have been honored, though the other Quartermaines would have pissed a bitch and a half.

It hadn't mattered that Sam's baby wasn't his biologically, he had loved her and that was all that had mattered to him. That part of his life seemed almost like a dream, a wonderful, almost unreal dream that had come to a heartbreaking end. The life he shared with Sam, the memories they made, the ones they wanted to make together, it was all over and it was all his fault.

Jason pushed open the door of the den, and released a pained breath. Edward Quartermaine sat at a desk, files open before him, the phone to his ear, and a look of gruff anger on his face. Not that he had ever seen the man looking any differently.

When he glanced up, Jason could almost swear their was a brief glimpse of relief in his eyes, but then figured it was just a trick of light, because Edward growled at whoever he was talking to and slammed the phone back down on the base. "It's about time you got here."

He restrained the huff of breath, wiping his hand over his mouth, figuring the best way to get this over quickly was to allow the man to get out all the condescending remarks he had stockpiled which would eventually get to his point.

Jason could hardly believe Edward voluntarily sought him out. Yes a few months ago, he had arranged for Emily to have them meet at the MetroCourt, so he could demand that Jason kill Alcazar, but since then things on the Quartermaine end had been blessedly silent. Imagine his surprise when his cell ran while he was driving back from Sonny's and it was Edward demanding that he bring his worthless, thug self over to the mansion so that he could speak to him.

Out of respect for his Grandmother and Emily, he hadn't hung up on Edward. Figured, the old man would just call Emily and sic her on him.

"I had business," he answered by way of explanation.

"Business with that thug Sonny Corinthos who stole you away from this family," the man seemed to be winding up for a good long diatribe on Sonny and it was the last thing he wanted to deal with at the moment. He was still reeling over seeing Sam so unexpectedly. He would have to get over that, move on, because Port Charles wasn't a big city. He was bound to run into Sam from time to time and he didn't want to have to drag his heart off the floor and shove it back into his chest every time he saw her.

"What do you want?" The words came out a little gruffer than he intended but it evidently got through to the man because he went silent, but kept a sneer on his face. It almost made him smile in way. In his day, Jason didn't doubt that Edward Quartermaine was force to be reckoned with. Perhaps if things had been different, they might have found some way to co exist, as it was Edward wanted things his way, when he wanted them and how he wanted them. Jason found he had a decided ineptitude for listening and following directions that clashed with the elder Quartermaine's need for control.

After his accident, his frustration and the Quartermaines need for him to be someone he couldn't be had driven too large a chasm between them. Since his brain surgery this year, he had found a way to set aside the anger he seemed to feel around them. His relationship with Monica had been strengthened, he could mildly tolerate Alan. They would never be one big happy family, but then again this was the Quartermaines. Happy didn't really seem to be apart of their vocabulary.

"It's time you did your duty and came back to the family." Jason rolled his eyes and turned back to the direction of the door. If he hadn't heard that crap before, he almost cursed violently. He didn't have time to deal with SSDD. "No! You can't leave!"

That wasn't just attitude in the man's voice. That sounded like desperation. Jason glanced back over his shoulder, knowing he would regret this but asked, "What's wrong?"

Three hours and several conflicting emotions later, Jason exited the elevator of his apartment building, scrubbing a frustrated hand over his face. How he allowed himself to get mixed up in Quartermaine drama, he still couldn't figure out. One moment he was asking Edward what's wrong and the next...

Hell. Moments.

They were kicking his ass lately.

He should be celebrating his release. He no longer had to run the organization because that responsibility was firmly back in Sonny's hands where it belonged. He could go back to the way things were before. He wasn't blind, understood that nothing much really changed. Except he no longer had to make the major decisions. And the meetings that he could barely tolerate. The guards at his door. And those fucking suits he hated wearing. Now he was back to being Sonny's enforcer.

Except for this new business he had allowed himself to be dragged into.

Edward Quartermaine was still a crafty bastard no matter how old he was.

By the time he was digging his keys out of his pocket, all he wanted was a drink, some peace and quiet. The emptiness of the penthouse greeted him with a silent suffocating wave as the door swung open. Why had he thought it might be different. He was still alone, that hadn't changed. As he stepped inside, he heard something crunch beneath his boot and frowned as he glanced down. Figuring Bernie had left him something while he was out, he picked up the long white envelope and slid a finger beneath opening it.

As he slid the single sheet of white paper out, he blinked both in surprise, at the familiar handwriting, then stunned disbelief as he read the contents. He could almost hear her trembling voice inside his head.

One moment.

It had changed his life forever.

He read through the note again, this time noting the damp spots in certain places.

Her tears.

It shook something in his chest, because her tears meant she was in pain. And she always held strong against pain, through so many obstacles and tragic moments in her life, the only times he witnessed her tears was when she had been broken. Panicked, he glanced around, realizing he must have just missed her.

He came upon the line again that just as before completely stopped his heart.

His baby.

_Jason, _

I know this seems almost cruel to leave you this note, to tell you this way. If I was stronger, I would tell you in person, and truthfully, I had hoped you would be home. You're always the one person I could count on to be there for me, but I'm so confused right now.

Deep in my heart, I always knew that I would have to tell Lucky about the night we spent together. I knew that secret couldn't remain in our marriage without slowly tearing it apart. Yet, I never expected. I never thought. I should probably come right out and say this, because it isn't going to get any easier.

I'm pregnant Jason.

I went to the doctor yesterday and confirmed it. I'm about nine weeks along. Lucky and I hadn't been together for a while, so I know the baby isn't his. It's yours. I'm carrying your baby.

Lucky knows the truth, we had a horrible fight about it. Some ugly things were said, but needless to say, my marriage is over. If Lucky comes to see you, please don't hurt him Jason, he isn't thinking clearly. I wouldn't be surprised if he has started using again.

But I can't deal with Lucky right now. I have to think of Cameron and this new baby first.

My Grandparents have a cottage in upstate New York, where the family used to go for vacations. Grams suggested I take a trip up there, to make sure I'm doing the right thing in divorcing Lucky. She doesn't know about the baby yet, I just wasn't ready to share that news with her since I hadn't told you first. I'm taking Cameron up there for a while until I decide how I'm going to deal with everything. I didn't want to leave this way, but I really needed time to myself to think.

I know you weren't expecting this. Neither was I, but I'm not sorry. I didn't regret the night we spent together, and I don't regret this baby. I hope you'll come to feel the same way.

Anyway, take care Jason. I'll be back before the New Year and we can talk about the baby then if you want.

I'm sorry,

Elizabeth


	5. Chapter 5

Thanks for the great reviews. :) Here's another chapter.

Rated: M

Disclaimer: I don't own them, I just like writing about them

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**_There You'll Be_**

Chapter Four

It was good to be back after all of these years.

Elizabeth hadn't been back to the cottage since her Grandfather passed away, mostly because the memories were still too painful. The laughter of her family as they sailed on the lake behind the house. Family cookouts, visiting the craft fairs with her grandfather. Sitting on the deck watching him concentrating as the sunset in the distance. It was the few happy moments her family had shared, when she wasn't feeling like an outsider. She was close to her Grams, but that was only recently after she had moved to Port Charles. Though Grams loved her, and she had never doubted that, their relationship had been based on a lot of push pull and rebellion that had a lot to do with her feelings about her older sister Sarah. Now that she was an adult, having moved past that rebellious attitude, a mother, their relationship was much closer.

Yet out of all of her family, there was one person she had been closest to, her Grandpa Steve. He was a respected doctor, chief of staff of GH and loving husband, father and grandfather. What many didn't know was that he was an artist as well, and that's where she had gotten her love from. It was a connection that she cherished and missed to this day. She missed those evenings he painted, imparting to her his love of art, its complexities and beauty. The cottage where she was headed sat on the outskirts of Brunswick Harbor, a town where many artists made their home. Grandpa told her once that in another life perhaps he had been one of those struggling artists who lived for his craft. It was why he loved Brunswick so much, had bought the summer cottage up here to spend private moments with his family outside of the hospital.

Since she had Cam, she had set aside her dreams of painting, knowing that she had to put the best interests of her son first, but that love never went away. The feel of a brush in her hand as she struggled to bring the picture in her head to life on canvas. Sometimes it was like fighting a battle, others it was a sweet as a gentle song, no matter which she had loved painting with her whole heart and it had been like amputating a limb when she set that dream aside. Her grandfather would have understood. There was only one other person who had.

Jason.

She shook her head, reminding herself that she had promised not to think about him for at least the first two weeks up here. She was barely two hundred yards from the cottage in her car with Cam sleeping in the back seat and already Jason was on her mind. It was difficult for him not to be. The night of the blackout had changed her life and Jason played a major role in the aftershocks. Yet she had decisions to make, and though she knew some of them would have to be discussed with Jason, she had to figure out her own mind first.

She pulled the car into the gravel driveway, turning off the ignition and just looked at the large structure through the windshield. The family called it a cottage, and technically it qualified, but tucked neatly into the hillside, concealed from prying eyes by gorgeous trees that extended majestically into the sky, the two story cottage was less rustic and more distinguished. Much like Steve and Audrey Hardy themselves.

"Cam honey, we're here," she looked over her headrest, and found her son sleep. Not surprising, since they had left Port Charles late in the evening and driven through the night to get here. Before leaving, she had terminated her lease on the small apartment, putting the things she wanted to keep in storage. It only made sense; there was no way she could live there. Not after everything that had happened in that apartment. The destruction of her marriage. Lucky's affair. Besides, she would need to move anyway because she would need more space for the new baby.

How on earth was she going to afford that?

She didn't want to depend on Jason, though she knew that he would offer to help take care of the baby. She didn't like the feeling of accepting money from him, though he had certainly helped her out before. Paying for Cam's daycare for the rest of the year, the outstanding bills he had taken care of, while she was grateful, she certainly didn't want to come off as some kind of gold digging leech out to take Jason for his money. It was pride, it was probably stupid, but then pride often led to stupidity.

When she returned to Port Charles, Grams had offered to let her stay with them until she found a new apartment but she knew that Grams was hoping that she would change her mind about the divorce. It was much too late for that. Though she understood Lucky was hurting, his addiction, finding out his wife had betrayed him with another man, that was no excuse for what he said about Cameron. It was no excuse for putting his hands on her. She would never be able to trust that he wasn't harboring hard feelings about her son, and the new baby, considering his animosity toward Jason, Lucky would never be able to accept this new baby. So a divorce was the best thing for everyone even if it hurt.

The day they married, she never would have expected things to end up this way. Maybe she hadn't paid enough attention to the real parts of marriage, not just the love and fun. The everyday things, like paying bills, honoring the marriage and not taking it for granted. She couldn't have anticipated Lucky's medical bills, or any of the rest, but maybe their foundation hadn't been strong enough to pull them through better or worse. Perhaps they had still been living on the dream of their teenage years and not on the relationship of two adults. Either way, it was over now and she had to deal.

Grabbing her purse off the passenger seat, she dug around inside for the keys Grams had given her, then opened the car door and stepped outside. Memories assailed her, as the scent of the crisp autumn air filled her lungs. Quietly, she shut the car door and leaned against it, a smile curving her lips for the first time in days. She closed her eyes and laid a hand over her abdomen, "I think this was a good idea," she murmured. Another reason she had left Port Charles. Her last two miscarriages wore heavily on her mind, the first , Ric's child lost as a result of Faith Roscoe pushing her down a flight of stairs, the second, the child she carried for Jax and Courtney that she had come to love so much, lost as a result of a car accident. All in Port Charles. All during the first trimester.

It was probably superstitious and merely coincidence but she wasn't taking any chances. There was still the chance something could go wrong, but she wasn't going back to Port Charles until she was firmly into her second trimester. After the first of the year. She wasn't subjecting this child to the stress of all of her friends and family demanding answers until she was certain this baby was strong enough to endure. Personally, she thought Jason's child was strong enough to endure anything, look at his father, but that may have just been her personal feelings, she thought with a mild chuckle.

She had an appointment with the doctor in town in two days, to have a check up and make sure that her files from Mercy were transferred over. She couldn't go to GH for an OB appointment, the news of her visit would have leaked and she would have been forced to deal with the fall out. Right now her wounds were still too raw. She especially couldn't handle Nikolas and Emily right now. They had been most vocal about her standing by Lucky through his recovery, though Nikolas had his doubts that Lucky was handling things as well as he pretended to be. She remembered Nikolas' reaction to her friendship with Jason before and it didn't bode well on his reaction this time around.

As for Emily, she would be supportive, but there would be all of those questions. Was she sure she and Lucky were finished? If they loved each other, they should stand by each other through the difficult times. Or better yet, suggest they get counseling.

Whatever the case, she would think about those things later, right now, she wanted to go inside, and rest after the long drive. Elizabeth crossed over to the other side of the car and opened the door, unsnapping Cam from his car seat and hoisting him onto her hip. He murmured in his sleep, snuggling into the crook of her shoulder but didn't wake, long accustomed to car to mommy to bed transfers. She couldn't wait to see his face when he saw the lake behind the house. He loved going down to the docks to see the boats in Port Charles, and though the lake would be empty of boats this time of year, he would still have the beautiful view.

Carefully she walked up the four porch steps, smiling at the porch swing which she promised herself to take full advantage of very soon, opened the door and stepped inside. Grams had called the caretaker and had him turn on the power and arrange to have the house cleaned for her, and everything looked almost like it did from their last visit. A large sofa, covered in dark brown twill looked a little outdated, but just as cozy and welcoming as it always had. It sat before the huge brick fireplace, with a mantel covered with various pictures of her family through the years.

The cottage had been originally built in 1945, and still retained its darkened pine paneling with a whisky colored stain on the oak floors. Windows opened up the room making it airy and bright. The result could have been very masculine, but her Grams had added feminine touches everywhere, antique table and floor lamps with soft red shades, a chaise over by the largest bay window covered in a delicate red and cream floral print. She would dig out the vases from storage, and later on she and Cam could go out in back and pick some of the wildflowers that grew along the side of the house. Hopefully they were still there as she remembered. Placed above the Victorian tables that matched the oak floors, over the fireplace and on other walls, were Grandpa Steve's paintings.

They ranged from a quiet study of a boat on the lake behind their house, to simplicity of a bowl of fruit, a glass of wine and a hunk of cheese being sliced by her Grams' hands.

She felt comforted here.

"Come on, lets get you upstairs," she took Cam up the short flight of stairs to the bedroom she and Sarah had shared when they were children. As she pushed open the door, she was greeted with the childish works she had insisted on hanging on the walls. Her grandfather had treated them all with respect and love, framing them all and hanging them up as though they were as good as his were. She laid Cam on the bottom bunk, taking the folded blanket at the foot of the bed and spreading it across him, before pressing a kiss to his cheek. Leaving the door open, she went to deal with the luggage, groceries and other things she left in the car. She wanted to be done by sunset. So that she could set up the easel and paints she had brought with her. She could only work with charcoal, or watercolors, because she didn't want to risk the fumes of working with any other types of paint, but she didn't mind, would in fact enjoy being immersed in her art again.

_"Every time I went into a church, or museum, I would see an amazing painting and I would think of you."_

Jason's words had reminded her of the joy she felt when she painted, and being here it seemed her Grandfather was giving his approval.

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"Thank you for coming to see me, Jason."

Jason lifted a shoulder nonchalantly, looking at the tired woman sitting up the hospital bed and felt a surge of sympathy. The disease had quickly taken its toll on Alexis; her face was pale and drawn, gaunt with dark circles beneath her eyes. She wore a green gown that matched the scarf she wore over her hair. Definitely not hospital issue, some soft and feminine, probably Sam's handiwork. Sonny had told him that the chemo had taken much of Alexis' hair and that Sam had gone out and bought Alexis a bag full of scarves in a rainbow of colors and different gowns to match to help make her feel a little better.

All the animosity he felt for the woman had disappeared over these months, as he realized, though they would never get along, never see eye to eye on anything, he could respect the courage she displayed as she battled the deadly disease that was slowly making war on her body.

"Kristina mentioned seeing you at Sonny's yesterday," her voice was almost a whisper, she adjusted the oxygen tube at her nose, then folded her hands neatly on her lap, telling him that she felt a little uncomfortable. He could tell she didn't like anyone seeing her vulnerable this way. He only hoped this wasn't going to be one of those stay away from Sam discussions that she often called him in for.

"Yeah, I was there." Was all he would answer.

"I need to ask you a favor," she tried to swallow and was stricken with a cough, it shook through her entire body, as she struggled to gain control. So he walked to the table and poured her a cup of water from the pitcher and held it for her, putting the straw in her mouth.

"Sip it slowly so you don't choke," he murmured, as her frail hands covered his, trembling. When she was done, and seemed to have better control, he set the cup down on the table and sat down in the chair next to her.

"Believe it or not," she smiled wryly, "I'm having a good day." She took another breath and he could almost hear her lungs struggling with the oxygen. "I didn't ask to see you for what you might think."

"Okay."

"I figure Sonny has gone back to the business now," she looked at him pointedly, "Don't bother denying it. Since he started therapy, I've noticed that he's changed, gotten stronger. Clearer. More focused. I knew it was a matter of time until he went back." She closed her eyes briefly, "Since this has all started, I've been forced to acknowledge that there are some things in life that I can't control."

Before he could ask about this heart to heart she was attempting, she continued, "Growing up in the Cassadine house, was like growing up in a pit of vipers. Especially Helena. Most of my life, I'd been told I was nothing, would never be anything but Meekos' bastard. Was always on guard for an attempt on my life from Helena or Stavros. They would have thought nothing of slitting my throat just like Helena did my mother. That's probably the reason why I was so hard on Sam. I thought she was wasting her life." She lifted a hand, and gestured, "That doesn't matter and not what I asked you here for. Sonny's return to the business means that Kristina and Molly's lives will be in danger again."

There was no need to deny or confirm that, they both knew in great agonizing detail what could happen to Sonny's children. After the kidnapping they were forced to acknowledge that no matter the security, the precautions nothing was ever one hundred percent safe.

"I want you to promise that you'll look after them, just as you will Michael and Morgan."

He couldn't hold back the frown of shock, and evidently it amused Alexis because she smiled. "Oh, I might not like the way you live your life Jason, but I know that you're good at what you do. You love Michael and Morgan," she nodded, "I've seen how much you protect the people you love. I know you have no reason to feel that way toward Kristina and Molly and I certainly have never given you any reason to do what I'm asking, but I know if you promise to protect them, you will."

"I'll protect Kristina because she's Sonny's daughter, but Molly has no connection to Sonny, why would you think she would be in danger?"

"She's Kristina's sister, Sonny's niece." And he could see the acknowledgement in her eyes, "Like it or not, my life and my children's lives will be forever connected to Sonny's. If I die," she broke off as her eyes brimmed briefly with tears. One spilled over onto her cheek that she hurriedly brushed away, as if she could brush away the unaccustomed sign of weakness, "If I die, I need your word that you'll protect them, the same you will Michael and Morgan."

"You'll trust me with that but nothing else."

"I trust you'll keep your word. My wants or feelings don't matter. If I'm not here to protect my girls myself, I want to know that Sonny has the best person possible to do it."

"And what does Ric think? Shouldn't he have some say in this?" Ric would shit a fit if he could hear what Alexis was asking of him. The man hated him with an obsession that bordered on insanity. Jason couldn't honestly say that he didn't feel the same about Ric.

"I think we both know what he would say." She shook her head, "Well, Jason?"

He might have no love for Alexis but he could understand her desire to make sure her children would be safe, "I promise I'll protect Kristina and Molly just the same as I would protect Michael and Morgan."

Her face crumbled for a moment, shoulders slumped as if she had used the last of her strength in making this request. "Thank you."

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"Jason what are you doing here?"

He glanced up from the paper work Edward had left with him, to see Emily enter the den of the Quartermaine mansion. He had tried to come over when he figured everyone would be out of the house. The last thing he wanted was for anyone to know what he was up to. Or that he was conspiring with Edward.

Rather than lie, he said nothing, just closed the folder he was glancing through and sat back in his chair. Other than her initial surprise that he was here unexpectedly, Emily seemed preoccupied with something so she didn't notice that he hadn't answered her question. "Is something wrong?"

"No," she denied, then frowned, "Yes. I don't know." She looked down at her fingers that were fidgeting, then tilted her head to the side, "Liz left town and no one seems to know why."

How he kept his face blank of emotion, he would never know. The very thought Elizabeth had the power to shake him to his core.

His Baby. _Elizabeth was having his baby._

"Lucky didn't say anything," Emily continued on, "He went to Nikolas a few days ago and asked him to find him a clinic where he could check himself in for his addiction. Evidently he lapsed again," she sighed heavily, "And Nikolas thinks that is the reason Liz left town."

"What did Lucky say about it?" His voice was calm despite the flush of rage that poured through his body. The note Elizabeth wrote him said that they had an argument, that harsh words were spoken, but Jason knew that Elizabeth wouldn't hesitate to protect Lucky or make excuses for his actions, blaming them on his drug problem. If that bastard had said or done anything to hurt her, there wasn't a clinic he could hide in that would protect him.

"Nothing actually," her face scrunched in confusion, "Which is surprising all things considered. He told Nikolas that he and Liz were getting a divorce, that he had a lapse and asked if Nikolas would find him a clinic that's all. It's like he's hiding something but neither of us can figure out what."

"Maybe you should just leave it be for now," he suggested knowing that if Emily and Nikolas got the idea they would rush off trying to find Elizabeth.

And that's what he was intending to do.

"Audrey said that Liz needed sometime alone to think, that she left a message that she was fine," she sat on the edge of the desk, "It's just not like Liz to run away from her problems."

"No it isn't," he admitted, but then, Elizabeth had never been faced with being married to one man who was a drug addict and pregnant by another who was a mob enforcer.

As much as he wanted to give her time, he couldn't. He needed to talk to her, to see her. The very idea of a baby was almost too much for him to wrap his mind around. The fear, the joy, was so big, that his heart refused to open to the possibility. Not until he talked to Elizabeth first. He gave her ten days before he asked Stan to find the cottage she was talking about. It only took thirty minutes before Stan was calling back with the address and location.

When he asked Sonny for some time, Sonny had been hesitant at first, Jason figured it was because he was still settling into running the organization again. For the first time he had pushed, accepting no less than yes. Things here in Port Charles were settled for the time being, if there were any problems, sonny could always call his cell. It wasn't like he was leaving the country, he was only driving six hours away.

At some point he knew he was going to have to tell Sonny everything. Carly. Sam, he thought with a small groan, remembering how desperately she had wanted a child of her own. Their child. Though she knew he and Elizabeth had slept together, he knew that knowledge still hurt her. It would be even more painful to discover that he and Elizabeth would have a child together. All he seemed to do lately is hurt Sam. This would be no different.

Edward had fussed, until Jason reassured him that he didn't need to be in Port Charles to work on their problem. He would take the files, and his laptop with him and work from there. He would be back in plenty of time for the stockholders meeting the week before Christmas. It hadn't mattered if Edward approved or not.

Tonight after he left the mansion he was going to find Elizabeth.

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The door to the playroom swung open and she sighed in relief at the sight of her little boy sitting at the table with a young redhead putting together a puzzle. "Hi, I'm sorry I'm late," she crossed the bold multicolored carpet to place a kiss on her son's head. "Sudden tree house injury, broken arm needed setting."

"It's no problem at all Elizabeth, Cameron is a sweetheart."

Elizabeth smiled at Mariah, the sweet twenty one year old who worked in the daycare where Cameron attended. In the beginning, she hadn't wanted to put Cam back in daycare, but knew that he needed the stimulation and interaction of other children his age because he would be starting school soon. Days here in Brunswick were good, the pressures of her life in Port Charles seemed miles away. Though she missed her friends, Emily, Nikolas, she was glad she had come here. The first week she spent painting, enjoying the time with Cameron. Then Monday morning she had awakened at six and realized she missed her job.

At first being a nurse had been a means of making a living to provide for her son. She had underestimated how much she had come to enjoy her profession. Helping others, being a nurse was no longer just a job, it had become as much apart of her as her rediscovered painting was. She had gone to the medical office where her Ob/GYN was located and asked Dr. Allen if there were any openings in her office. Dr. Allen didn't have any openings but she knew that Dr. MacConnely, the pediatrician who shared the building with her was looking for a nurse and hadn't found one yet. Elizabeth had discussed her situation with Dr. MacConnely, Nicole, and the woman had been willing to take her for the short time, considering she really needed help. It would provide the opportunity to continue looking for help and hopefully by the time Elizabeth was ready to return to Port Charles, Nicole would have found a replacement.

The work was different than GH, the pace slower, but no less challenging considering she was working with children all day. The reason why she was late picking up Cam at daycare today, was the last minute visit from the mother of one of the Beck twins that Nicole warned her was typically in her office at least once a week for one injury or another.

"The only boys I know who have a tree house are the two terrors," Mariah laughed as she gathered Cam's bag from his cubby. "So which one this week." It was one thing Elizabeth liked about Brunswick, everyone knew each other. Small town, small town gossip. Everyone had been very welcoming, remembering her family from their summer visits. Her pregnancy was still a secret for the time being, but it wouldn't remain that way for long. Especially not with her unscheduled bathroom visits to pay homage to the toilet, ever since morning sickness had hit with a vengeance.

"Gavin," Elizabeth chuckled as well, as she remembered the two brothers solemn faces as Gavin's arm was cast. Then the glee in little Billy's eyes as he scribbled his name in black marker across the purple cover. "I didn't interfere with any plans you might have made did I?"

Mariah smiled and waved off her apology, "No, just going home, no plans at all. Hey, I have an idea, how about dinner tomorrow night. We can go to the Elephant Boy."

"No sitter," Elizabeth shrugged, though she would have loved the night out.

"Bring Cam along, it's a family restaurant, that's why I suggested it. Cam will get a kick out of the playroom, and maybe some of the other kids will be there, since it's Friday."

Why not? "Okay," she nodded, in agreement, "This time tomorrow?"

"Great," Mariah brushed a kiss over Cam's cheek then rubbed off the slight smear of pink gloss, "See you tomorrow Cammy."

"Bye," he waved with a smile, slipping his hand into hers.

She had been worried about how Cam would react to the new town, new people. Those months with Lucky had caused him to be more cautious with other people. Before they left, he had asked if Lucky would be coming with them, seemed nervous, which in turn made her feel guilty. She had been trying to do the right thing for her marriage, and almost hurt her son in the process. She was only grateful that she had left when she had.

The ride back to the house was quick, as Cam played in the back with his toys. By the time she pulled into the driveway she was more than ready for dinner. Her appetite had grown recently, and warred with the nausea, which made for very interesting meal times. Most evenings she was reduced to veggies and orange juice, with occasionally a piece of grilled chicken or fish. Just the smell of certain foods could trigger the nausea. AT least she was eating healthy.

Tonight, seemed to be a good evening, no nausea or lightheadedness despite the long day, "Hey how about spaghetti and meatballs tonight?"

"With Bwead," Cam asked from the back.

"Yes with bread," she laughed, emphasizing the proper pronunciation. "You can even help Mommy roll the meatballs, how about that?"

"'Kay," he bounced happily. "And Bwownies too?"

Just the thought of Brownies and how she used to make them for Lucky made her sad, but that was no reason to deprive her son of one of his favorite treats, "I think we have chocolate, so yes Brownies too," her voice quieted as she noted the strange truck sitting in the drive way. She took out her cell, after stopping the car, ready to dial for help if something should go wrong, then she noticed the man sitting on the front porch.

There was no way to mistake that face.

She got out, taking Cameron from his seat, closing the door, and they made their way to the confrontation waiting. Deep down, she hadn't expected him to wait until December, so it came as no surprise to find him waiting on her porch now.

"Hello Jason."


	6. Chapter 6

Reviews, love them. Thanks so much, they really inspire when writing because I know someone wants to know what's going to happen : ) So, here's my next chapter. Hope you like. BTW: I guessed on Cameron's age in this next chapter to be around four. If I'm wrong, I'm sorry. I just didnt' feel like digging for his real age, and it suited my story to have him this age.

Rated: M

Disclaimer: I don't own them, I just like writing about them.

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_**There You'll Be**_

Chapter Five

"Elizabeth."

The first thought that snapped in his head was how much he had missed her.

Until now, he hadn't realized just how often the two of them ran into each other in Port Charles. In Kelly's as he stepped in for a quick up of coffee. At the hospital for one reason or another. In the park while he was watching Michael and Morgan. Each time with a smile and a wave of hello, that somehow he had become accustomed to having in his life.

_You're so beautiful. I mean, you always were. I just, I just wasn't expecting this._

The words he had spoken to her echoed and resonated in a way that he could only now appreciate. Their truth unmistakable. She was beautiful. Since the last time he saw her on the docks, much had changed about her. Her skin, smooth silky beneath his fingertips, held a healthy glow now. She was still slender, lithe, in the khaki cargo pants and simple pink t-shirt and matching sneakers. Those eyes.

And her mouth.

What the fuck was he doing? Unsettled, Jason licked his lips and stood from the stairs where he had been waiting for the past hour for her to return. He noted her son holding her hand, kept his movements slow and unthreatening, as he watched apprehension flicker in his face. Cam looked so much like Elizabeth now, though perhaps he favored Zander as well.

A combination of their features he decided, a mixture of Zander and Elizabeth that had formed together in Cameron, an entirely new person. He had a head full of dark unruly hair, unless memory failed him that was Zander's quick grin he seen a moment before he'd tucked himself neatly at her side. And Elizabeth's eyes. Not the color, for they were dark like Zander's, but the shape of them, bright, expressive.

The two of them made quite a picture. The peaceful scenery and the glow of the setting sun behind her. It was like a painting he might have seen once. Mother and Child. The sight made him take a deep breath and swallow past the lump in his throat as she smiled tentatively. Welcomingly, as if she had been expecting him.

People had treated his presence in a variety of ways. Carly just acted as if he was supposed to be there, in a way, so did Sonny. The Quartermaines always had expectations in their eyes, making him feel a little uncomfortable with their hopes. Emily treated him he supposed like a sister treated a brother, seeing as he didn't have much experience with those kinds of relationships, he couldn't really tell. And Sam, she had made him feel happy to be there, contented to be wherever she was, but never had he felt welcomed.

"I didn't mean to intrude," he managed, as the silence only stretched between them.

She raised an eyebrow, her mouth pursing gently into a mocking smile, "Didn't you? I've never known you to do anything you didn't mean to do." The words could have been harsh, antagonistic, if he hadn't heard the humor behind them. That's when he realized, she probably had been expecting him. "Cameron, I don't know if you remember my friend Jason Morgan. Jason this is Cameron," she reintroduced them, though he didn't need it. Since his birth, he had seen Cameron on several occasions, had watched the baby grow into this little boy. He knew that she was putting her son at ease with the introduction, so that Cam would know that he wasn't a threat.

He closed the short distance between them, but stayed far enough that Cameron wouldn't feel uncomfortable. Squatting down to child level easing into a smile, "It's nice to meet you Cameron, you can call me Jason," he slowly extended a hand and waited to see what would happen next.

Cameron looked to his mother for approval, and at her quick nod, he offered a sudden irresistible smile that lit up his entire face. "Hi Jason," he placed his much smaller hand into his, and Jason was slightly astonished at the feelings it ignited. Protectiveness, happiness. Cameron's hand could be completely swallowed by his much larger one; it made him as a man realize how much responsibility that placed into his care. The trust this child was extending to him and the knowledge that he had to do everything in his power to make sure that trust wasn't betrayed.

"You mind if I visit with you guys for a while?"

"Mommy's making Bwead and Spaghetti and Meatballs for dinner?"

"Really?" he chuckled through the ripple of mirth, enjoying Cameron and absolutely charmed. "I'm guessing you like Spaghetti and Meatballs."

He nodded eagerly, "And Bwead," he added with a little lisp, "You can have some too."

He hadn't intended to intrude on their time. Hell, he didn't know what he had intended when he came after Elizabeth, the only thing that had been on his mind was the almost desperate need to talk to her. He tilted his head to her, waiting for her answer and didn't want to acknowledge the hope that perhaps he would be included. "I think that's up to your mother," he told Cameron, asked her.

"Jason is welcome to join us for dinner," the soft curve that touched her lips immediately turned mischievous as she added, "Of course, those who wish to eat must cook as well."

"Mommy lets me roll meatballs," Cam offered, "You can too, I can show you 'cause I roll good meatballs."

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He had looked so vulnerable.

It had reached right in and grabbed hold of her heart in a way that she hadn't expected. Such a simple thing for her and Cam, making dinner together, and she realized that Jason might not have ever had that before. He'd told her that Sonny cooked, and that Robin had shown him how to cook some things, that he and Sam had always ordered out.

What about his other relationships, had they never shared this normal everyday experience? If it had been simply a man and a woman, the meal could have taken on sexual undertones that neither of them were prepared for. With Cam, it made dinner a family occasion. Jason surely shared family dinners with Sonny, Carly and their kids. Only they weren't his family. When all was said and done, Jason went home alone each night now that he and Sam weren't together. This evening with the three of them was probably tearing at the unspoken wants he carried deep inside for no one to see.

Yet he couldn't keep that desire from his eyes in that one unguarded moment he had looked to her for approval.

"Okay," she settled Cam on a stool at the table next to Jason after thoroughly washing his hands at the sink, "Since I have two apprentice meatball makers, I can get started on the rest of the meal." She went to the refrigerator with a huge steel bowl, "Let's see, we have ground turkey breast, eggs, a little parmesan cheese," she began dumping ingredients into her bowl to carry to the table.

"You need some help with that?" Jason asked and she glanced back to see the concern lining his brow.

"I'm fine," she flashed a quick reassuring smile as she closed the door and walked back to the large oak table setting the ingredients on top. Then she walked to the sink and grabbed the cutting board from over head, a knife from the drawer, then an onion from the pantry. She quickly diced the onion into small pieces, slid it off the board into a bowl and walked back to the table. At the surprise on his face she asked, "What?"

"I didn't know you could do that," he shrugged making her laugh.

"It's just cutting an onion," she told him, "besides, don't be too impressed, this is only one of very few meals that I can cook. And I use a prepared sauce in a jar," she explained, then remembered, "I should put the water on," she walked back to the stove, reaching for one of the large stock pots over head, extending to her toes and felt her fingers slide off the steel.

"Man," she muttered in disgust. Before she could reach back up, Jason was there, easily slipping the pot down. Unintentionally brushing, their torso's colliding and she was wickedly reminded of the muscle beneath the black tee he wore as it stretched against her. As her already achy breasts were teased by the graze of his chest. The image of her slipping his shirt off flooded her mind, drying her throat, and she could almost feel his heated skin the twist of

She took a hasty step back, feeling silly for the heat flooding her face, "Sorry," she apologized, looking everywhere but into his face, so he wouldn't see her embarrassment. This was the last thing they needed. He held out the pan and she grabbed it with a quick "Thanks," without touching him and turned to the sink to fill it with water. If she acted like nothing was wrong, hopefully she could pretend nothing was wrong and he wouldn't notice. The thudding of her heart in her ears was so loud, that she was certain that he had to hear it. Why wouldn't he go sit back down?

She chanced a glimpse of his face, felt her stomach drop at the unmistakable hunger in his eyes and quickly turned back to the faucet. She turned off the water, going all the way around the table to the stove, which was insane of course when all she had to do was walk right past him. Only, she needed the distance and if it made her look ridiculous, well she would just look ridiculous. She set the pot down and turned on the stove to bring the water to a boil. Done, she went to mix the meatballs and Jason had gone back to his seat next to Cam, much to her relief.

"I'm going to mix all of this together," she started nervously, "Then I'll get the pan ready to broil them while the two of you roll them out."

"Mommy's making bwownies for desert," Cam said happily, "She makes the best bwownies."

"Can't wait to taste them," Jason spoke in a easy tone, but the underlying hint of huskiness in his voice made her hand clench, crushing the mixture between her fingers.

A very big mistake.

It oozed between her fingers, causing her to glance down at the viscous mass of pink and just like that the nausea hit with a viciousness that made her head spin. The catch of breath she released, made Jason look up at her. She pulled her hand out of the bowl, wiping access from her hands onto the towel sitting on the table, and choked a bit as she tried to hold off a moment longer.

"Elizabeth?"

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Jason watched in shock as she turned pale then rushed from the room. He wasn't sure if he should go after her or not. "Mommy's sick again." He glanced down at Cameron's face and the matter of fact tone of his voice only shocked him more. "She said that having the baby makes her tummy sick sometimes."

What was he to say to that? He hadn't realized that she would tell Cameron, but of course it made sense. If she was having morning sickness, the last thing she wanted to do was worry her son when he saw her throwing up all of the time. "I'm going to check on your Mommy, can you go to the living room and play with that truck you were showing me earlier?"

He nodded, and climbed from the stool running from the kitchen. Jason grabbed the bowl and stuck it into the refrigerator, turning off the pot of now boiling water and followed the direction that Elizabeth had taken from the kitchen moments before. He didn't have to wonder long where the bathroom was, all he had to do was follow the sounds of her retching. Tapping lightly on the door he called out, "Elizabeth?"

There was no answer but there was the sound of the toilet flushing, so he knocked again, "Elizabeth are you okay?"

There was a miserable groan, "Go away, Jason," came an echoing reply.

"I'm coming in," he warned, twisting the knob and heard her groan again in defiance.

She was sitting on the floor in front of the toilet, one arm limp on the side the other proped on the edge, with her head resting in the crook. The wretchedness on her face made him feel guilty as hell. She was going through this because of him. The least he could do was help her as much as he could. "Can you stand, or do you still have to," he left off, not knowing if the words might trigger another episode.

"I'm done," her voice was gritty, making him feel even worse. Slowly her eyes opened, "Cam?"

"In the living room playing." He turned on the warm water in the sink and pulled her to her feet, holding her hands under the water to wash them with soap and dried them on the towel hanging on the rack behind them. After helping her to sit on the toilet, he turned the water cold, offering her a cup of water so she could rinse her mouth out. She surprised him by opening the medicine cabinet and grabbing the toothpaste and a brush and quickly made use of them. When she was done, he wiped her face with the cool towel he held and she moaned with relief.

It made him want to pull her into his lap and hold her.

"Is it like this all the time?" He didn't like to think of here for ten days going through this on her own. He had called himself giving her time when he should have been here taking care of her.

"No," she looked in a drawer and pulled out a band, tucking her hair up into a ponytail, "In the mornings, it's rough, but I keep saltines and a glass of water by the bed, so that helps. It's only bad when it catches me like that. I usually pay attention to things that can set it off. The smell of certain foods, or the look of them, can make me sick. Needless to say, I wasn't paying attention."

Tucking an errant strand of hair behind her ear, he murmured, "I'm sorry."

"Why?" When he found the strength to look into her eyes, he was surprised by what he saw there. Concern for him, when she was the one who wasn't feeling well.

"This is my fault."

"Last time I checked, it took two people to make a baby," a small smile touched her lips, "besides, I'm not sorry. A little morning sickness isn't going to kill me." She blinked slowly and he knew despite her brave words, that she was tired.

"Where's your room?"

"Why?"

Did he really have to explain? "So you can lay down Elizabeth. You need to rest."

"I have to make dinner for Cameron," she insisted trying to get up.

"I think I can manage spaghetti and meatballs," he kneeled before her. "You should lay down."

"I can't, I promised Brownies, and,"

"Stop protesting, and just do what I want this once."

"Jason, I don't need you to take care of me. I'm pregnant not helpless."

"I want to take care of you," he admitted softly and that made her go silent. "I know you could probably get up and go to the kitchen and finish dinner and make Cam his brownies as if everything was just fine. I know that. I, I just," he stopped not really knowing what he wanted or how to explain how he had this need to take care of her. It wasn't because she was pregnant. Seeing her with Cameron, knowing that she was ready and willing to raise her son alone, it humbled him. And raised every protective instinct he possessed. He had never doubted her strength, her resilience. He just wanted to be there for her. "Please, Elizabeth."

"I won't go upstairs to bed," she started, then released a sigh, "I'll lay on the couch for a while."

"But," and she cut him off with a shake of her head.

"That's the deal Jason. I won't let Cameron think I'm ill and get him upset, because I'm not. He needs to understand that having a baby isn't an illness. I don't want him unconsciously blaming the baby for making his mother sick. Having a baby is a wonderful part of life."

"He didn't sound worried when I left him."

"Good," she nodded, "If I go to bed, it will change all that. Telling him that I'm just a little tired will be okay. He'll understand that, since I went to work today."

"Work?" She was working and dealing with morning sickness?

"Don't look at me like that Jason," she clear blue eyes flashed with spirit, "Yes I'm working. I found a nursing position with a pediatrician in town. I happen to like my job and it gives me something to do while Cam is in daycare."

"But if you stayed home, then he wouldn't need daycare."

"He needs to be around kids his age," she said pointedly, "As much as I would love to spend all day every day with Cameron, it would hurt him in the long run. Socializing with other children, knowing that his mother loves her job but will always have time for him, it makes him a well adjusted little boy."

"Will you work all the way until it's time for the baby to come?" It was the first time he had actually said the word baby and it made their situation all the more real. It must have shown on his face, because she lifted a hand and caressed the side of his face. Again, comforting him, when he should have been comforting her.

"Probably not," she answered, "I'll have to see how I'm feeling then."

He nodded but still feeling unsure, it was an uncomfortable feeling. There weren't many times when he was unsure on how to handle a situation. Yet there were so many variables here that needed to be discussed. He stood, then bent to lift her easily into his arms, pulling her tight against his chest when she started to protest.

"I can walk you know. Cameron," she started but he cut her off. In this he was absolutely certain.

"Cameron needs to see that it's a man's responsibility to take care of," he paused because he was going to say his woman, but Elizabeth wasn't _his_ woman. But she was the mother of his child. "A man honors his responsibilities," he altered slightly, "I won't hide that I'm this baby's father Elizabeth. I can't," his voice faded, losing it's confidence because he didn't want to pressure her.

She slipped her arms around his neck, and tucked her head neatly against his neck, "I never thought you would."

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The meal was more fun than she'd had in a while. The three of them together, laughing at the dinner table, felt deceptively like a family. It was a deception that she had to be careful of. Cameron had been pulled into one falsehood that was torn apart by Lucky's drug abuse. It was her responsibility to make sure that it didn't happen again. While it would be easy to just fall in and let whatever happen, happen, she had to be much more cautious this time. There were two children involved. Though she knew that Jason would never do anything to hurt Cameron, or their unborn child, she had thought the same about Lucky.

The food was good, Jason proving that he could indeed manage spaghetti and meatballs, and even the small salad from the bag of romaine lettuce, shredded carrots and her cherished cucumbers and cherry tomatoes. When she protested, because a girl had to satisfy those midnight cravings, he had promised to buy more. He made up for brownies with scoops of ice cream for dessert much to Cam's delight. There was only one thing he liked more than brownies and that was chocolate swirl ice cream.

After dinner, while Jason washed dishes, she had taken Cam up for his bath and pajamas, then they sat on the front porch swing for a while. It was good, very comfortable, and made her heart ache a little.

A moment out of time.

Because this wasn't there life, out here in Brunswick, in this cottage and there was no escaping that fact.

"He's asleep," Jason spoke up breaking the silence and she looked down at Cam curled up trustingly between the two of them. "I can take him up if you want."

"Thank you," she nodded, preferring to remain in the illusion that they were a happy family on vacation for a while longer. He lifted Cam easily into his arms and took him into the house leaving her to sit and listen to the night. So many if onlys. If only. Yet she couldn't regret. She wouldn't have wished Lucky's drug addiction on him. That would make her a horrible person. If it hadn't happened, if he hadn't slept with Maxie she never would have gone to Jason. She could feel sorrow for the events, but she couldn't regret because that would mean regretting the child growing within her womb at this moment and that was something she couldn't ever do.

The screen door opened and Jason walked back out, carrying a wine glass filled with orange juice making her chuckle softly, "Now how did you know I was wanting this?"

"Judging from the five containers I saw in the refrigerator earlier, I had a pretty good guess that this was one of those cravings that I've heard about," he smiled, handing her the glass and sitting next to her.

"You were right," she admitting taking a sip of the tangy beverage. She didn't understand the strong need for Orange juice, but even with Cam she'd always wanted the veggies and blue cheese dip. Most people craved junk food, and she had a thing for vegetables. There was one other strong craving she always had, but it had yet to register, so she figured maybe it wouldn't this time.

They sat in silence once more, and she curled her feet beneath her, sliding closer so that he could wrap and arm around her shoulders. How often had they done this and why did it feel so right?

"Can you stay," she asked tentatively, knowing that his responsibilities to Sonny were important to him. With Alexis being sick, he was surprised that Jason could get away to come up here.

"As long as you'll let me," he answered eventually, "I know you came up here to think, and I tried to give you some time but,"

"But you needed to come," she understood completely. "How do you feel about this Jason? About the baby?"

He moved his arm, shifting so that the light of the moon hit the side of his face and she could see every emotion. Confusion. Shock. Fear. Joy. They mirrored her own. "Is it wrong to be happy?" He asked tentatively, bringing tears to her eyes. "I feel like I don't deserve this. After everything. Sam."

"It isn't' wrong to be happy. As difficult as this makes things, I'm happy. I'm scared sometimes because of my two other miscarriages and I find myself being overly cautious. And I know it's going to stir up a lot of trouble back home, but this baby," she placed a hand over her abdomen, "This baby is loved."

"You said that you didn't want to bring a child into my world," he reminded her. "Does that mean,"

"I think it's a little too late for that now," she responded matter of factly. "This is your child. I would never try to keep you away."

"I wouldn't blame you. You would be trying to protect-"

She rolled her eyes, releasing a huff of breath, "Shut up." His eyes widened with surprise and it might have made her smile if she wasn't so irritated. "It isn't an issue. _Our child_, plain and simple. Am I worried about possible consequences, about the danger in your job, yes. I'd be an idiot not to be. I also know that you'll do everything you can to keep our child safe."

"Nothing is one hundred percent certain Elizabeth."

"I think I can testify to that," she made a dismissive gesture, "I would have been one hundred percent certain that Lucky wouldn't get hooked on drugs, that he wouldn't sleep with Maxie. I would have been one hundred percent certain that he wouldn't grab me in anger or that he wouldn't call my son a bastard."

"What?" He ground the declaration out between his teeth and she could have slapped herself for being so careless with her words. "He did what?"

"He was angry," she immediately clarified, "It's not an excuse, but it is the reason. He had just found out I was pregnant."

"That doesn't give him the right to put his fucking hands on you!" He almost roared and she was absolutely shocked at the total loss of control. She had seen Jason angry before and that fury was frightening but this primitive reaction had her grabbing his hands with a shiver of panic. She had no doubt that if Lucky had been present in this moment, Jason would have gone after him and pounded every ounce of rage coursing through him into Lucky.

"Jason, I'm fine." She murmured in a calm comforting voice, squeezing his hands to get his attention. "It's over, Lucky's gone and I'm fine."

His anger abated somewhat under the warm reassurance of her voice, but she could still see hints of it glittering in his artic blue eyes. "I don't like it, you've always taken up for him."

"Not anymore," she shook her head, "Jason look at me," she grasped his chin, forcing him to look into her eyes, "Not anymore. I hope Lucky finds the help he needs, but I'm done."

His nostrils flared as he dragged a slow deep breath in and let it go, "I don't like the thought of his hands on you."

"I'm done," she repeated, and watched him nod carefully, but the muscle in his jaw jerked as he continued to struggle for control. Without thinking about what she was doing, she leaned upward, and pressed her lips to his. The kiss unexpectly devoured, making her burn. Each caress grew in intensity, a hungry spurt of desire spiraling through her, making her clench at his chest. His answering groan deep in his chest overrode every ounce of sense she might have had. It was supposed to be an offer of comfort but who the hell had she been fooling.

Memory exploded in her mind as his body tensed, the sweet tender taste of him filling her mouth and she would have pulled away, but his hand slid behind her neck drew her in as his mouth claimed hers. How could she have forgotten this heat? Her body instantly reacted, drawn to him and the knowledge of pleasure she knew they could share. His tongue swept across her lower lip, as he sucked briefly, making arousal scorch through her body to pool heavily between her legs. Slowly, enjoying the pull of muscle, she ran her hands up his chest, fingers threading through his thick hair as she opened at his demand. His tongue dipped into her mouth, making her heart pound in an erratic rhythm in her chest.

"Elizabeth," he murmured against her mouth, as his arms closed around her waist drawing her tight against his straining body. The sheer breadth of him should have shocked her, but it was just like that last time. She felt soft, feminine, wanted, in his arms. It took nothing from her to feel this way. He wasn't trying to dominate her, even with his flare of anger before. She knew that it hadn't been directed toward her, but in defense of her.

She met the caress, his mouth pure temptation. The kiss explored, focused on extracting every last drop of pleasure to be gained. One lick, one nip of teeth, a soft suckle on a lip, a tangle of demanding tongues, each drawing them deeper into the web of desire being woven around them. His hand tightened briefly around her neck, and she wanted to moan in frustration when he pulled away. When he leaned his forehead against hers, his breath coming in harsh breathless pants, she knew he was just as affected.

Jason licked his lips, a low hum rumbling in his chest as if he were savoring the taste of her, "I think we need to talk about this."


	7. Chapter 7

Wow, more great reviews. Thanks everyone! Here is my next chapter. : )

Rated: M  
Disclaimer: I don't own them, I just like writing about them

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_**There You'll Be**_

Chapter Six

He didn't know what awakened him, but when he rolled over and glanced at the clock on the bedside table it was just a little after six. It took a moment for his surroundings to register, realizing that he had slept more soundly than he could ever remember. The full sized bed covered with a dark blue gingham blanket wasn't his own king, but not uncomfortable. He found his bag sitting next to an oak dresser, matching blue curtains to a window pulled open to reveal the most stunning view of a lake he had ever seen. The rumble of a toilet flushing filtered through the walls and he figured out what had pulled him from sleep.

Elizabeth.

Last night, despite their argument, she had offered him the downstairs guest bedroom for the night so that he wouldn't have to drive into town. She made it clear, however, that he couldn't stay. At first he thought it was because they were angry with each other, but she had explained that she didn't think it was right to have him stay here with her and Cameron.

"His world is too confused right now, he was comfortable with Lucky and now he has to learn that Lucky won't be apart of his life anymore."

She had looked at him with pain in those expressive eyes and he knew she was telling the truth, not pushing him away because of their anger. She was hurting for her son and had to put his needs first. "I won't let Cam get too attached to you Jason because I don't know how we're going to handle this. But I won't let my other son be hurt in your need to be there for this child."

Part of him had been hurt that she could think that he would do anything to hurt Cameron, but then he realized those were his feelings and he needed to take Cameron's feelings into account. In clear and undeniable terms, Cam had lost the only father he had known; Elizabeth was just trying to protect him. Lucky's drug abuse hadn't just destroyed their marriage it had broken their family. Once he could see through to those facts, he found he could understand and respect her decision.

He kicked off the blanket and slid into a pair of grey jogging pants to check to see if Elizabeth was okay. She could handle the morning sickness, he didn't doubt that, but he still wanted to be there for her. It was part of the reason he wanted to stay so damned much. Only they weren't married. He didn't have those rights. Yes they were friends, and yes they were having a baby, but he wasn't in a position to be there for her in the way a husband would and after their conversation last night, Elizabeth had made it clear that marriage was the furthest thing from her plans.

Pushing open the door to the bathroom down the hall, he remembered the appalled shock on her face when he had suggested they get married. One moment they had been caught up in a passionate kiss, and the memory of how she felt, how it felt making love to her had pounded through his body like a shock of electricity and the next he was putting his foot in his mouth. She had apologized for the kiss, quickly explaining that she hadn't meant to allow it to go so far. He had apologized for taking advantage, but since it had happened maybe it had happened for a reason.

"A reason," she had sat back under the moonlight, a frown creasing her brow, "What does that mean?"

"What are we going to do Elizabeth? Are you coming back to Port Charles? You seem comfortable here, the new job, Cameron is in daycare, this house. What reasons do you have to go back? What's there besides the pain of old memories, facing the danger that comes with carrying my child? No one here has heard of Jason Morgan, you could start over."

"My family and friends are in Port Charles," she answered shortly, and he could tell from her voice that she was getting angry, "My life is in Port Charles. Things may be a little difficult for me right now, but I never considered running away even if it seems like I did just that."

"I understand why you left," he began but she cut him off.

"Do you?" she demanded, "Do you know what it was like for me to discover I'm pregnant by another man and married to another who's a drug addict? Do you know how terrifying it is to wonder if I'm going to lose this baby just like I lost the other two?"

"No," he shook his head, swallowing past the ache her pain caused, because this wasn't about him, "I don't. All I said was that I could understand if you didn't want to come back."

"And what about you Jason? What? Do you sneak down here every so often to check in on the secret child you're having with stupid Lizzie Webber!" she jerked from the swing and stormed to the other end of the porch. "If I'm here, no one has to know that you slept with me, no one has to know that I'm carrying your bastard!"

"Don't ever call our child that!" he shouted, rising as well. The distaste that word left in his mouth sickened him, "Don't you ever!"

"Why not?" She shot back, and through the disgust in her voice, he could hear pain. He remembered that the man she loved, married, had called her son that cruel thing. "It's the truth. It's what everyone will think. We had an affair! It doesn't matter that I was going to leave Lucky or that you and Sam had broken up. People are going to whisper and point and accuse. The cop's wife is the mob enforcer's whore."

Furious, he closed the distance between them, would have grabbed her arms, but something in her eyes stopped him in that last second, maybe a flicker of sorrow, he would never know, but he did place his hands on her face, lifting so that he could look into her eyes, "That night meant something to me," his voice cracked at the end and he watched tears brim in her eyes, "It started as the two of us trying to find some comfort in all the pain we were feeling, but it didn't stay that way. At least not for me."

"Not for me either," she admitted closing her eyes, when she lifted them, pain still lingered there. Her hands slid upward to rest on his waist.

"That first time, I was caught up in the moment," he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, the heat and hunger of that night vivid in his mind, "And I came into you needing you so much. Then I looked into your eyes and remembered what we had before. How confusing it was, painful sometimes."

_"They say timing is everything." _

"Yeah and ours sucks."

The words didn't have to be spoken aloud for them to remember. "And we talked that night. I finally had the chance to tell you the things I should have long before but didn't know how to say. And we made love again. That time it wasn't about Sam being with Ric, or Lucky and Maxie. It was about us. So don't you belittle that night. You're not a damned whore! And this child isn't a bastard. I don't give a fuck what anyone says. I'm not ashamed that you're carrying our child. It isn't some dirty little secret that I want to cover up. You're a good mother; all you have to do is look at Cameron. And a good person. Loyal, generous. Kind. Everyone who knows you, knows that."

She sniffed as a tear ran down her cheek, her hands gripping tight at his sides, "So what are we going to do?"

Then he had gone and ruined everything by sticking his foot in his mouth and suggesting they get married.

He found her on the back deck standing in front of an easel and a small smile curved his lips as he leaned against the door way. On the canvas was a beautiful watercolor of the lake before them and though he couldn't tell if it was finished, he knew that the woman who had painted it was extremely talented. In the midst of chaos, Elizabeth had found her way back to her art.

Silently, he watched her push hear long hair from her face and walk to the edge, the growing morning light illuminating her face briefly and he could see the sadness. Hated that he was the cause. Dressed in that blue lacy tank thing and a pair of striped pajama pants that rode low on her hips, the wind gently fluffing her silky dark hair, she looked more delicate and ethereal than ever. Only he knew better. There was strength in Elizabeth, a toughness and determination that was a complete contradiction to the slenderness of her body. She had been through so much in her life, and it would have broken lesser people, but she had endured.

Even now, faced with a situation that had more complications than the latest Hollywood blockbuster, she refused to run away.

"Good morning," he said finally and watched her glance quickly over her shoulder, eyes bright with surprise. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"No," a tentative smile greeted him, "I didn't mean to wake you."

"How's the morning sickness?"

She lifted a shoulder, and he could tell that this was one of those bad mornings. She never complained, though she certainly had reason to. "I came out for some air, to clear my head. That usually helps. Cam will wake up soon, and we'll start the day." Nervously, she ran her hand through her hair again, as her smile faded, "About last night, Jason."

He stopped her with a raised hand, "My fault."

"I was cruel," she shook her head.

"No, you were honest," he walked forward, stopping in front of her to extend a hand in truce. "And you were right. The last thing we should be considering right now is marriage for the sake of the baby when our lives are so,"

"Screwed up?" she filled in for him, making him grin. She placed her hand in his allowing him to pull her into his arms. He closed his eyes, enjoying the breeze on his face, the light floral scent of her hair. He placed his cheek on her head, his hands caressed the planes of her back, and when his fingers reached the patch of silky skin at her waist they flinched slightly before he could stop himself.

"I do understand why you mentioned marriage Jason."

That was good. At least one of them knew why he had brought it up. "You made valid points. You haven't divorced Lucky and you don't want to rush into another relationship."

She stepped back, disappointing him because he was enjoying the way her fingers felt tracing absent patterns on his back, "And you're still in love with Sam. Let's not forget that. I won't marry a man who's in love with another woman, not even for the sake of my child. It would lead to nothing but heartache and misery in the end, and that isn't good for any of us. The last thing I want to experience is walking into my house and finding my husband in bed with another woman."

"I would never do that to you." He knew how that pain felt. Even thinking about Sam and Ric still had the power to hurt him.

"No, instead you would silently suffer in a marriage you wished you'd never entered for the sake of our child." She turned away, not waiting for a denial, "The best thing we can do right now Jason is agree that we both want what is best for the baby. I would never try to keep you away from the baby, but I want us to agree to be friends, that there won't be anger or hard feelings between us. We can be parents together."

"And our feelings for each other," he asked carefully, "There's no sense in denying them, because they're real." She stiffened, releasing a broken sigh, tipping her face upward. "I was standing in the doorway watching you and I wanted to touch you Elizabeth. I wanted to pull you into my arms and make love to you again. That isn't going to go away."

"You think it's easy for me," from her profile, he could see her wrinkle her nose and then shake her head again, "You standing there, all rumbled and sexy with no shirt, making me want to touch you. You're still in love with Sam and I refuse to put my heart through the wringer again. I'm still trying to survive the damage from my failed marriage. The last thing either of us should be considering is trying to start something between us."

"You're right," he admitted, taking a step forward. His fingers slid from her shoulder to her elbow and she leaned into him, tucking the back of her head into his shoulder as he slipped his arms around her waist. "Can we agree to take this one day at a time?"

"Living in the present? It's what I came to Brunswick for. I wanted to spend some time with Cam, enjoy the baby without the pressures from everyone else and just live for a while. No worries. So yes, we can take this one day at a time." she agreed placing her hands over his, lacing their fingers together, over her abdomen. Over their child. "The real world can wait a while longer."

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"I guess you and your husband decided to give things a second chance?"

Elizabeth glanced over at Mariah a clear frown on her face, "What are you talking about?" The last thing in the world she would ever consider doing is giving Lucky another chance. Since arriving in Brunswick, it had taken all of her energies to heal, to accept her part in the break up of their marriage and not take on blame for Lucky's actions.

Yes, she had neglected their marriage. Yes, she had slept with Jason. She had not forced Lucky to take those drugs and hide it from everyone. She had not forced her husband into the bed of another woman, despite his paranoid ranting about her and Patrick having an affair. Despite all of their problems, she had honestly tried to put their marriage back together. She could understand his anger about this new baby, but there was no way she could forgive the horrible things he said about Cameron.

Yes, he was suffering from the addiction, but even with drunks, there is always some truth to their words. Somewhere inside Lucky those unspoken feelings had lurked all along. His addiction simply freed his inhibitions and allowing them spill forth. Last week after a visit to a lawyer she had begun divorce proceedings. After barely two years, their marriage was over.

Yeah, Happy Thanksgiving.

"Jason," Mariah nodded in the direction of Jason and Cam who were standing in front of a pile of multicolored fallen leaves, "He seems like a good guy. I don't know what troubles the two of you were having, but I'm glad you're trying to work it out. Especially with the new baby on the way."

"Don't even think about you two," she called out, watching them whip around with guilty looks on their faces. Who would have thought that the infamous mob enforcer of Port Charles would be caught dead getting ready to jump into a pile of leaves with her four year old, "MY HUSBAND!" she practically shrieked as Mariah's words finally registered over her amusement, _"Jason, my husband?"_ From the shock on Mariah's face it seemed she realized her mistake.

"I'm sorry," the red head immediately apologized, "I just assumed," she stopped cringing at her faux pas, "I mean, he's so great with Cam. And he's been here for almost three weeks now, though I should have known I was wrong when he stayed in Jerri's B&B instead of moving out with you," she rambled on then put her hands over her face, "I'm so sorry, you should be angry and tell me to mind my own business."

"It's fine," Elizabeth reassured her, though it certainly gave her something to think about. She knew that Brunswick was a small town. The fact that she had on a wedding band and the news of her pregnancy, coinciding with Jason's arrival was bound to have people drawing certain conclusions. She had been so intent on their little world away from the world, that she didn't think how it would look. Her failed marriage was still a touchy subject and though she had filed the divorce papers, she hadn't spoken of it to her newest friend. "No Jason is just a good friend that's all."

"Hmm," Mariah murmured, glancing back at Jason, "I'll take a good friend like that any day."

Elizabeth couldn't stop the small snicker, as she silently agreed. Jason was a man that a woman could definitely have all kinds of fantasies about. Maybe it was pregnancy hormones, but seeing him in those black jeans and that black tee beneath his familiar leather jacket was inspiring all kinds of naughty thoughts. It didn't help that he was so kind to her. He didn't push, or try to crowd her. It was kind of comforting the way he wanted to take care of her, but didn't want to make it seem like he was trying to take care of her.

And yes, he was good with Cameron just as she had always known he would be.

She figured after his first week, he would need to go back to Port Charles but he had assured her that he had nothing pressing waiting for him. He did hint that he had some business going with Edward Quartermaine, which was extremely surprising. She figured he would never have anything to do with ELQ, but he had confided that the company was in some trouble and he agreed to help. From the frustrated look on his face, she thought he was just as surprised as she that he had been drawn into the Quartermaine's business.

Somehow they had fallen into a routine, Jason coming over in the evenings when she got home from work. The three of them had dinner, which he had insisted on taking turns preparing so she could rest. They spent the evening together until Cam took his bath and went to bed. Normally he stayed a while afterwards and they would sit on the porch swing where he would ask how she was doing: fine, gaining weight displayed by the slight swelling of her belly. How was the morning sickness: not so bad and beginning to taper off. Did she have enough cucumbers and cherry tomatoes to satisfy her midnight cravings: of course he brought a shipment every time he noticed her supply in the refrigerator getting low.

They talked a lot, mostly about her fears of losing the baby. Now that she was getting close to the four month mark, she was feeling a little easier. She was even starting to wonder if she was carrying a boy or a girl. If the baby would look like her or Jason, or maybe a combination of them both. Unless genetics ran afoul, it was pretty certain the baby would have blue eyes. The times when she would contemplate those things, he would get a little quiet. She wanted to remain silent, knew it wasn't any of her concern what was troubling him, but her innate need to comfort Jason won out and she got more than she bargained for.

He was quiet because those were the things Sam used to do, wonder what their baby would look like. If they would have a boy and a girl. It made her feel guilty to remind him of the things that the wanted with Sam and he was forced to share with her instead. She knew that until Jason acknowledged his feelings for Sam and forgave them both for what went wrong in their relationship, those feelings would continue to haunt him. Which definitely reaffirmed her belief that marriage between them right now would have been a disaster.

"He's in love with another woman, but they're having problems right now." Elizabeth explained quietly, so Mariah could understand. And so she wouldn't go trying to hit on him. "I'm sure they'll find their way back to each other though."

And she would move forward from this idyllic moment in time, because it wasn't real. They weren't a real family no matter how wonderful he was with Cam, or how tender he was with her. The more she told herself that, the better she could protect herself when this all came to an end.

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"Mommy is making turkey for dinner tomorrow. And mashed potatoes because she said she hates stuffing," Cam kicked the pile of leaving scattering a few of them in the breeze.

They were in the park spending the last of the afternoon before going back to the cottage for dinner. Thanksgiving had arrived before any of them realized it. Three weeks he had spent in Brunswick, much to the dismay of everyone back in Port Charles. In the evenings when he returned to his room at the bed and breakfast, he was forced to wade through endless voice messages from everyone wondering when he was going to come home.

Sonny called with daily reports about the business and on that front everything was fine. The transition went well, everyone understanding that Sonny was back in power with his full support so there were no problems.

Carly called constantly. Where was he? When was he coming home? They all missed him.

Alexis had news from the doctors. Her surgery was a success and with the last doses of chemotherapy they figured they caught the cancer before it spread. She was due to leave the hospital today actually, and would be home with her family for Thanksgiving. The only problem that remained was for her to get strong. She would probably look back on the things she had said, promises she extracted, and regret them, so he figured he would get a call soon on that front.

Whether or not Sam chose to reveal that she and Ric had slept together, he couldn't even guess. The need for honesty aside, revealing the truth would only destroy the relationship that Sam and Alexis had finally shakily forged.

Jason glanced down at the little boy in the bright green hoodie and jeans who held his hand. Those problems seemed an entire lifetime away and strangely detached. Here in Brunswick with Elizabeth and Cameron seemed like his real life.

"I think she has a chocolate cake planned too," he watched the huge smile spread across Cameron's face and chuckled himself. The kid loved chocolate.

"And you're coming over?" He looked down at his scuffed sneakers, his quiet voice unable to hide the hope, "You don't have to leave yet do you?" He had already explained to Cam that he would have to go back to Port Charles soon, but he hadn't realized how much that had affected the little boy.

"No," he squeezed the hand in his gently, "I'll definitely be there. Now," he reached down and swung Cam into his arms making him giggle then switched him easily onto his back, "How about we go get your Mom and we can head home for dinner?" Thin arms curled around his neck and squeezed. A good feeling.

"Think she'll let me have cookies?"

Jason glanced back over his shoulder at Cam and pretended to think for a moment, "Well, only if you eat all of your vegetables this time instead of trying to sneak them under your plate."

A look of absolute disgust crossed his dark eyes as Cam curled his upper lip, "'Spargus is nasty."

"Yeah, asparagus is kinda nasty" he agreed, "But your Mom only wants you to grow up to be healthy."

"But 'spragus is reaaaallly nasty," Cam drawled out. "And I only hid the last three."

Jason brought his hand up to stifle the burst of laughter, this kid was priceless. When he was older, he was going to be a complete handful. "Well," he cleared his throat slightly, "I'll tell you what. Let me talk to your Mom and we'll see."

"See about what?" came the wry but indulgent question. Jason glanced around to see the Mom in question standing in front of them with her arms folded and a sweet musing look in her eye. He didn't doubt that she had heard the entire conversation. "What are you two conspiring about?"

"Just a little truce," he touched her cheek, not bothering to wonder about the good feelings she brought him. She had on a pair of dark jeans and a fitted purple tee-shirt beneath a denim jack. It wasn't noticeable unless you really looked, unless you knew that she had the tiniest waist but he could see the slight swell of her stomach where their child grew. It made him want to place his hand there all the time. To reassure himself that this baby was real and not the dream it seemed.

Her face simply glowed.

"UmmHmm," she licked her lips and he had to work not to stare, things were going well between them. He didn't want to screw this up. "Why do I have the feeling we're talking about those vegetables a certain little boy didn't want to eat last night?"

"I'm sorry Mommy," Cameron apologized and placed a small chin on his shoulder, "I'll be a good boy and eat my vegidebles and not put them under my plate again."

She reached out and tweaked his nose, an easy grin spreading across her face, "That's good to know, I would hate for someone to miss out on that chocolate cake I'm making tomorrow." She laughed, a bright joyful sound as she turned away, "Come on you two conspirators, it's time to go home."

By the time they made it to where his truck was parked next to her car, they noticed the person standing beside it. Judging from the glower on his face, Jason knew this conversation wasn't going to be a good one. He said nothing, acknowledging his presence with a simple nod, but he and Elizabeth looked at each other for a moment before he helped Cameron into his car seat. "I'll see you at the house okay?"

"'Kay," Cam waved before picking up one of those little hand held educational games that Elizabeth kept for him in the car. By the time he closed the door, Cam was totally absorbed and didn't notice the tension that had filled the air.

"Everything's fine," he placed his hands on her shoulders, lifting the hair off and pushing it back. "I'll just be a few minutes."

"If you have to take longer it's okay."

"I gave Cam my word. I'll be there." She nodded and crossed to the other side getting into her car.

Jason waited until she drove off before going back to his truck and the one person who waited there that he really didn't want to see at the moment. There was probably trouble and that's why he had tracked him down. When they were face to face, Jason shoved his hands into his jeans and waited.

"So while Sam is back in Port Charles eating herself up with guilt over sleeping with Ric, you're down here playing house with Elizabeth Spencer?" The cold dark eyes were angry and though Jason understood, it grated.

"What do you want Sonny?"


	8. Chapter 8

First, thanks again for the reviews ; ) They are very appreciated. Here is my next chapter.

Rated: M

Disclaimer: I don't own them, I just like writing about them

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**_There You'll Be_**

Chapter Seven

"Emily came to me a couple of days ago," Sonny began, lifting his shoulders as though he were uncomfortable. Jason had a feeling he knew what was coming next. no matter how much he might not wish it, he had the bad feeling that Port Charles was about to descend on him and Elizabeth whether they were ready or not. "She told me that Liz just left Port Charles with no word to anyone but her Grandmother and evidently, Audrey Hardy wasn't giving out her whereabouts. So Emily asked if I could try to find her. I know Emily and Liz are best friends, and Liz has been going through a lot with Lucky addicted on drugs and raising her son alone, so I didn't think anything of the request."

"Sonny."

"Imagine my surprise when I go to Stan to have him run a check on Liz's bank records and credit cards to see if he could locate her, and he gets this guilty look on his face," Sonny kept on as regardless of his interruption. The man was determined to have his say and Jason knew there was no sense in even attempting to try again. Better to let it all out, then explain. "He hedged for a good ten minutes, very loyal to you by the way, until I figured it out on my own that you evidently knew where Liz went because you had already had Stan locate her. After a small discussion Stan finally decided to tell me, seeing as you hadn't sworn him to secrecy."

"I didn't think I had to," Jason frowned, next time he would.

That seemed to make Sonny even angrier, "So what's going on. Sam already told me that you slept with Liz the night you found out about her and Ric. Is that why the two of you took off together. Lucky's off in rehab and you two decide to pick up where you left off."

"Don't go there," he closed his eyes, not liking that snide tone in Sonny's voice, "you have no idea what you're talking about."

"I know for weeks your were standing there blaming Sam for sleeping with Ric when you had done the exact same thing with Liz," Sonny answered, "So what's the deal?"

"There is no deal Sonny," he shrugged impatiently, "Damn it what do you want me to do? Sam and I already had this discussion, and she had no right to tell you about Elizabeth." Though he figured the truth would come out eventually, it was their place to make that decision.

"And that makes it okay," Sonny asked.

"Nothing about this situation is okay," Jason snapped back, "It's fucked up. I fucked up. Is that what you want me to say? I pushed Sam away trying to protect her and instead I hurt her. I hurt her so bad that she ended up hurting herself by sleeping with Ric. I was hurt, Elizabeth was hurt and we spent the night together. Is that enough information for you Sonny?"

"So why aren't you and Sam back together? You both were wrong, you should be able to work through it."

"Oh, like you and Carly have worked out your differences over the years?" he asked, his voice filled with a sarcasm that not even Sonny could miss and completely out of character. "Look, things are complicated. With Alexis being sick, Sam decided to stay in Port Charles. I tried being there for her, like you wanted, but it was wrong to put her through that. Every time I showed up at the hospital, she would get this hopeful look in her eyes as if things were going to change between us and go back to the way things were before. So realized the best thing I could do for us both was to just stay the hell away."

"Is this about the business again? Because you know that Sam can handle the business."

"No," he screwed up his face in frustration, he was beginning the think maybe he could no longer handle the business. "I close my eyes and I can't get that fucking image of Sam and Ric out of my head. Am I a hypocrite, yes. What am I supposed to do? I feel like something broke between us and I know that I played the biggest role in that. Sam didn't deserve what I did but I can't go back and change what happened. I can't fix it, I don't know how."

"Are you still doing this Jason?" he asked carefully, "I thought since you and Sam were together, you had moved past this. Cutting people off when they hurt you to protect yourself. That's not how relationships work."

"I'm not getting this lecture from you," Jason raised an eyebrow, his annoyance increased at the censure in Sonny's voice, "Really I'm not, so we're going to take a step back for a moment and I'll ask you again, what brought you here?"

"Alexis finally revealed that she knows about Ric and Sam. Sam's devastated and she needs you. You have to come back to Port Charles."

"Sam doesn't need me," he shook his head, "Sonny, we've been over for months. If not when I pushed he away, then when we both slept with other people. I can't keep doing this." He couldn't go back, he was needed here.

"So you'll stay here with Liz? Jason's she's married."

"She's getting a divorce," he rebutted. Part of him, a really selfish part was glad that she was finally cutting that loser out of her life. Lucky had been putting her through hell for years. He understood her loyalty, Lucky was her first love, he had been the one person who had helped her through one of the worst things that had ever happened to her. Yet that didn't excuse what he'd said about Cameron.

He remembered when Monica had visited him in the hospital before his brain surgery and told him that story, how he had been an infant sick in the gatehouse and she had come to see him. When she had held him in her arms, she said he had become her son and Jason figured that's how it was supposed to be. Children were innocent. They weren't responsible for the circumstances of their birth and Lucky had no right to be that cruel to the woman he claimed to love and called his wife. He sure as hell didn't have the right to put his hands on her in anger. Being addicted to pills could never excuse that.

He scrubbed a hand over his face and back through his hair, "How do you even know that Sam wants me around Sonny? Or is this something you decided because you thought she needed it?"

"That sounds more like something you would do," Sonny shot back sarcastically. He didn't even bother to hide the flinch of guilt, because it was the truth and everyday he paid for his actions, so anything Sonny said would never be worse than what he had to live with. "Are you sleeping with Liz?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but no," he released a dogged sigh, "There are reasons why I'm here."

"What could be more important than trying to make things right with the woman you love?"

"You presume a lot," he glanced down, then back at Sonny from beneath heavy lids, "I'm not even sure I want to make things right with Sam. Have you ever thought about that?" He was feeling even more like a bastard for even considering moving on his life, while Sam was in so much pain. Everyone kept telling him that he loved Sam, that he wanted to be with Sam. In the beginning, that had been true in a sense. He wanted what they had back. The love and connection. How could they ever reforge that after everything that had happened? How could he go back when there was so much more waiting ahead? "I can't go back to Port Charles right now. I made commitments here."

"What about your commitment to Sam? She still wears your ring, even though the two of you are supposedly over. That should be enough for you to realize she still loves you. No matter what she says, part of her wants what you had. The plans you made, marriage, a family. Children. Or does that mean nothing now that you're here with Liz?"

"I," he had no answer for that. "Elizabeth's pregnant," he blurted out and felt the sick twist of his stomach.

It wasn't how he wanted it to come out, as if he needed an excuse to be with her, because that wasn't true. When did he stop feeling guilty for enjoying the time he spent with Elizabeth? Was this how it was always going to be. Sam needed him and he had to go because he had broken their relationship. Should he feel guilty because he was happy that he was having a child? He and Elizabeth hadn't planned this, but did they have to hide away in shame. And what about their child, was he or she doomed to ridicule and derision because his father had made a horrible mistake?

How long was he going to pay for what he did to Sam? He didn't know what he wanted, after months of trying to find some peace with what had happened, now here is Sonny stirring it all up again. He had expected this when he went back to Port Charles, when Elizabeth returned and the truth about her pregnancy came out. He was expecting the harsh looks and the pain in Sam's eyes. Was it so wrong to want this time here in Brunswick before they had to face all of that?

"Shit," he moaned, wishing Sonny would just go away and leave him the hell alone for once.

"What? Pregnant?" The clearly astonished look on Sonny's face told him this was the last thing he had expected. After a moment of silence he seemed to collect himself, "Are you sure it's yours?"

"Sonny," he warned coldly.

"It's a valid question," he defended, raising his hand to ward off a protest, "She was married for Lucky, there is reason to wonder if the baby is his."

"Elizabeth said the baby is mine, she has no reason to lie."

"It would certainly make things easier for her wouldn't it," Sonny shrugged, "Lucky's in rehab, most likely will be put off the police force because of his drug abuse. They've had financial troubles before. Why wouldn't she say the baby is yours?"

"I can't believe you said that," his disbelief plain, "After all the years you've known Elizabeth, how could you possibly believe that she would lie like that about something so important."

"People will do or say anything if the stakes are high enough," Sonny told him.

"I'm walking away now," Jason managed between gritted teeth. "Before I say something I regret," then he swirled back around, "And if you dare say something like that about Elizabeth again," he warned before turning and moving to the opposite side of the truck. "I'll come back to Port Charles when I'm damned good and ready. So go home to your family Sonny and leave me alone."

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When she pulled her car into the gravel driveway of the cottage, she wanted to groan in disgust, turn the key in the ignition, back up and simply drive away. The last two people on the planet she wanted to see right now were sitting on her porch swing waiting for her. She didn't know why she was so surprised, if Sonny had shown up, why not Emily and Nikolas. Emily had probably gone to Sonny in the first place to locate her. It only stood to reason that if Jason had found her easily then Sonny could as well and pass that information on to Emily.

Maybe she should have called them, they were her friends after all and concerned about her, but damn it, was it wrong to want time for herself. She was the one going through the trauma. She didn't need them here telling her all the reasons why she should hold on to her marriage. That Lucky was addicted and that he needed her help and support. She was done supporting Lucky, loving him, marrying him hadn't been enough. No, it was all her fault that he was kept taking those pills that Patrick told him to stop taking and started the destruction of their marriage.

"Grr," she growled squeezing the steering wheel. Damn it, why was she feeling guilty? Seriously pissed, she snatched open the car door and stormed over to the other side to help Cam out of his car seat. When he saw Nikolas sitting on the front porch he raced forward with a loud joyful, "Uncle Nikolas! Aunt Emily!"

She adjusted her purse strap and stiffened her spine, walking toward the house jiggling her keys in her hands. She glanced down at her watch, figuring that Jason would get here soon, so it was better to have the first part of this confrontation now, rather than waiting until Jason arrived. "Hey," she spoke, and her voice didn't quite manage the welcome that they were used to. It showed in the confusion on their faces. Cameron could sense something was wrong, because his smile slipped away at the edges. She watched Nikolas set Cam back down and step forward to give her a quick hug that was awkward and uncomfortable. The one Emily attempted next was even more so. Stepping aside, she quickly opened the door, "Cameron, Mommy needs you to go upstairs and play in your room while I talk to Nikolas and Emily."

He looked like he wanted to protest, then nodded. He stopped on the fourth step and said, "Jason is still coming for dinner right?" Well the secret was certainly out now, she chuckled bitterly. Not wanting Cam to worry she answered, "Yes, he promised he would be here soon."

"'Kay."

Gratefully, Nikolas waited until Cam was out of earshot before turning to her with that glare in his eyes, "Tell me he's not talking about Jason Morgan?"

"He's not talking about Jason Morgan," she snapped sarcastically, "Since he's the only other Jason I know that would come up here to see me, I think it's safe to say that yes it's Jason Morgan."

"Oh Liz," Emily sighed, her eyes alight with pity, "What are you doing?"

"Aside from trying to spend a few weeks alone with my son you mean?" she asked, snatching off her denim jacket and hanging it on the coat rack by the door, "What do you think I'm doing?"

"I think you're cheating on Lucky with that," Nikolas stopped, anger cutting off whatever he was going to say next. "How could you do this? And while Lucky is in rehab trying to get better so that he could come home to his family."

"Don't even go there Nikolas," she said over her shoulder, "Lucky should have thought of his family before any of this started."

"You know that Lucky didn't mean for any of this to happen."

"Lucky deliberately disobeyed the doctor's orders about his back injury and began abusing his medication as a way to compensate for over doing his physical therapy. When he became addicted to them, did he ask for help, no, instead he's sneaking around Port Charles with the police commissioners still wet behind the ears daughter while she supplies him with drugs and has sex in my bed."

"I thought the two of you had started working through that," Emily asked cautiously, "Lucky was going to his NA meetings and seemed to be getting better."

"Do you have any idea what it's like living with a drug addict with a four year old son that you trying to protect from seeing the man he thought of as his father that way? Do you realize the tension that I lived with for months?"

"So that's why you're here with Jason? Because you're tired of Lucky and his problems, though God knows he's stood by you through yours Liz."

"Oh, you mean how he was raising my bastard as his own," she snapped bitterly.

"Elizabeth," Emily's voice was filled with shock.

"Well that's what he called my son. Right after he grabbed my arms hard enough to leave bruises. But that's the drug addiction right, I'm supposed to excuse all of that." Whatever she did next, paced in the wrong direction, turned at the wrong angle, blanked both of their faces with shock. "What?"

"You're pregnant." Nikolas said in a low tone, as if the words were unbelievable, "You're here with Jason Morgan, pregnant with my brother's child."

She stopped placing a protective hand over her stomach, "That's not true."

"You're putting Lucky's children in danger by being around that criminal," he broke off as if that were the kindest word he could think of to call Jason, "What's wrong with you? First you disappear for weeks without a word to anyone, and come to discover you're pregnant."

"The baby isn't Lucky's, it's Jason's." she said simply, yanking the bandage off the bleeding wound, and watched their reactions only worsen.

"That's not possible," Emily said, "Jason is in love with Sam," she insisted shaking her head.

"As if I don't already know that," it was bad enough to know it, but now she was being made to feel like she was the other woman in all of this. "Look, the day of the blackout," she began.

"The blackout," Nikolas shouted, "But that was back in August."

"Will you please just let me explain," she demanded, dragging her hands through her hair. The annoyance their presence brought was quickly yielding to hostility at their accusing faces. "The day of Lulu's birthday party, I walked in on Maxie and Lucky in bed together in one of the apartments over Kelly's. He came home and I confronted him, and he did some song and dance about how I didn't understand him, I didn't support him. I was having an affair with Patrick so it was all my fault he was bouncing between the sheets with little Miss 'I've had a crush on Lucky for years.'"

She swallowed still remembering how she felt, practically seething with the anger and humiliation of her husband's betrayal and tried to push back the wave of nausea it brought forth. "I knew it was the pills talking, but it still hurt. If that weren't enough, I get to walk in on him twice during the blackout with Maxie. In my apartment. In my bed."

Tears filled her eyes and she wiped them away, "So yes, I went to Jason. I didn't want to deal with Grams who wanted me to 'work things out' with Lucky because I would have had to tell her that my husband was hooked on drugs and sleeping with some post pubescent blonde bimbo in my house. I couldn't go to you, because I didn't want to hear you tell me it was Lucky's addiction. He didn't mean to cheat on me and cause me that much pain. If we loved each other, we could work through this. I went to work, thinking if I just kept busy, I wouldn't have to think about it, but I snapped on two doctors who were doing some mild flirting and Epiphany sent me home." She shoved the hair back from her face, feeling it heat, sweat beginning to form on her forehead.

"So I went to the one person that I knew wouldn't try to tell me to fix it, or tell me that everything was going to be okay, and all that sun will come out tomorrow crap because it felt like my world was falling apart. I went to Jason. One thing led to another and we slept together, end of story."

"Was this when Sam slept with Ric?" Emily asked and Elizabeth knew the shock shone clear on her face.

"Who told you that?"

"Alexis confronted Sam and Ric a couple of days ago when the doctors said it was okay for her to go home from the hospital," Nikolas explained.

Figuring it was no secret now, she answered, "Yes. Jason found out about Sam, I was hurting over Lucky and," she shrugged.

"How could you? You know how Lucky feels about Jason," Nikolas accused, "Now you're pregnant with Jason's baby? It's no wonder Lucky lapsed and needed me to check him into rehab. The one person he needed the most betrayed him at his lowest moment."

"I guess you could look at it like that," Elizabeth nodded once, "I wonder how you would be reacting if it were Maxie that was pregnant with Lucky's baby. But I guess I would deserve that since I was such a horrible wife right?"

Emily stepped forward, her voice annoyingly placating, "That isn't what Nikolas meant."

"Now do you understand why I needed some time to myself?"

"Except you're not alone, you're here with Jason. What kind of example are you setting for Cameron?"

Elizabeth blinked, "I know you aren't talking about setting examples Nikolas. Need I remind you who your son's mother is, no matter how much you might like to pretend that Emily is?"

"I think we should all take a moment and calm down," Emily held out both her hands as if to hold them off from a physical confrontation, "we don't' want to say anything that will hurt each other."

"And when are you going to stop with this Pollyanna routine?" Elizabeth snapped. "Nikolas accuses me of being the reason Lucky's an addict and I'm supposed to calm down? He has the audacity to question how I'm raising my son, after his brother called him a bastard and acted as if he were doing us a favor for deigning to help raise him and I'm not supposed to be angry?"

"Liz," Emily started.

"The two of you come up here, without invitation I might add, and insult me in my own home and I'm supposed to just ignore it because Nikolas' feelings might get hurt!" By that time her voice had raised to a nice echoing shout and a pain shot through her head. She moaned pressing her fingertips to her temples as the room began to swim. Emily hurried forward, placing a hand on her arm but she snatched away, "Don't touch me!" she shouted, making black spots appear before her eyes. She tried to blink them away, stumbling back a step even as her one leg seemed to collapse from beneath her. Her knee struck the hardwood floor hard, sending pain shooting up through her leg causing her to cry out in pain.

Oh God, it was her worst nightmare. Tears spilled over onto her cheeks, even as she placed a hand on the floor to steady herself and one protectively over the baby as if she could will things not to go wrong from her touch. She tried to breathe but it only made her head spin more, dragging a broken cry from her throat. She felt hands on her back, the sounds of Emily's voice fading in and out as she struggled through the pain. Then there was a draft on her back and an angry shout.

Familiar arms lifted her off the floor.

"Jason," she murmured, seeking the comfort of his touch, "Baby," she managed as the blood hammered harder and harder behind her eyes. "Jason, help," she cried, feeling his arms tighten around her.

"Hang on Elizabeth," she heard him murmur in her ear, before brushing a kiss over her temple, "Just hold on. You and the baby are going to be fine."

She held on to that thought as she lost consciousness.

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Jason had paced the little waiting room of the small medical center for more than thirty minutes now and figured if someone didn't come give him some news soon, he was going to go back there where Elizabeth was and get his own answers. He had felt like his world was crumbling at his feet when he walked into the cottage and saw Elizabeth on the floor, her broken crying echoing in his ears with Emily and Nikolas standing over her. When she passed out, he had felt helpless, for one moment frozen as he held her limp body in his arms. It had taken Cameron's voice coming downstairs for him to finally snap out of it, knowing that she would never want her son to see her that way.

Demanding that Emily go upstairs to stop Cam from coming down, to keep an eye on Cam until they came home, he grabbed Elizabeth's purse as he rushed out of the house to his truck. After settling her in the back, he went around to the driver's side, ignoring the look on Nikolas's face and not bothering to protest the man's presence as he slipped into the truck with Elizabeth. The only thing that mattered was getting her help. He had dug through her purse knowing that she kept a card with her doctor's name on it and somehow managed to dial and not drive the truck off the road.

He stumbled through explanations, no he didn't know what happened, just that when he walked in she was kneeling on the floor and seemed to be in pain. That's when Nikolas said they were in the middle of an argument and she was upset, that's when she grabbed her head as if she were in pain. Jason relayed the information, as well as the fact that Elizabeth was unconscious. Dr. Allen told him to take her to the hospital and that she would meet him there.

Finished he had tossed the phone uncaringly onto the seat and pushed the gas pedal to the floor, praying a cop wouldn't stop him. The only thoughts that kept rushing through his head was how terrified Elizabeth was that she might lose this baby. She had taken every precaution she knew how, including leaving the city that was her home to ensure the baby's safety and still this happened. He didn't know how he would be able to look into her eyes if she lost this child.

He managed to find the tiny hospital without too much time and trouble and swung the truck right to the emergency entrance not giving a damn if it was illegal. He carried her in less than ten feet before a nurse was rushing over to help. It seemed the doctor had called ahead to be expecting them.

She was placed on a gurney and wheeled away from him, while another nurse grabbed his arm and pulled him back, leaving him to watch the door swing closed in his face.

"I never thought this would happen."

He glanced down at Nikolas Cassadine, brother to the bastard that had hurt Elizabeth most, and wondered what the hell he was doing here for the first time. "You didn't know this would happen? Exactly what happened at the cottage tonight? What did you say to upset her?" He had already taken a step forward to snatch the man from his chair and force him to tell him what he had done to Elizabeth to cause this, when a nurse stepped into the waiting area.

"Mr. Morgan?" His head whipped around, at the gentle inquiry, trying to see from the woman's face, the truth. If Elizabeth and the baby were okay. "Elizabeth asked me to bring you back."

"Is everything okay?" he heard the slight tremor in his voice, unable to hide his fear that he had lost the most precious thing he'd ever known. "Is she okay?"

"She told me she wanted to tell you that herself," a soft smile played around her mouth and Jason nodded, figuring the woman wouldn't be smiling right now if there was bad news. Pushing Cassadine from his mind, he would beat the shit out him later, he focused solely on what was important. Elizabeth. The nurse pushed open the door, and Elizabeth was laying on her side, the doctor sitting next to her in chair with a folder on her lap. He looked around at all the machines, then went back to her face. Her beautiful face that seemed a little pale still with all that hair a wispy halo around her face. She smiled and held out a hand to him.

A tremor raced through his body, halting him in his steps as he ran a shaking hand through his hair, "Is everything okay," his voice trembled out, unable to move from the spot.

She waved him over gently, "Come see for yourself." He took the first step forward, then another cautiously lifting his hand to place it in hers and she threaded their fingers together. That one touch, that connection, did a lot for calming his fears. Elizabeth was smiling, that meant she was going to be okay. "Jason you remember Dr. Allen." All he could do was incline his head briefly, remembering meeting Elizabeth's obstetrician on an unscheduled visit because Elizabeth figured he wanted to be involved in every aspect of the baby's development and so that he could provide his medical history.

"It's good to see you again Jason," the blonde woman smiled kindly, "Now as I was telling Elizabeth, her blood pressure rose a bit too high today. That's why she had the headache and fainted. We had her resting on her left side, giving her fluids and just some quiet so that her blood pressure could lower on it's own and we didn't have to give her any medication. It's a little normal under the circumstances with her slim frame. I know she's been working, and taking care of Cameron, but I've told her that she should cut her hours down to part time, at least until she puts on a bit more weight."

"She eats right," was all he could think of, "She always takes her prenatal vitamins, and she drinks lots of orange juice and eats lots of vegetables and protein. She hardly ever eats any junk food, because she can't keep it down. Except chocolate and ice cream but only occasionally." Dr. Allen cut him off with a light laugh.

"It's okay Jason. And you're right, Elizabeth has been doing everything right. We only just figured out what caused the spike in her blood pressure today."

"You mean beside Nikolas."

"Now Jason," Elizabeth started but he shook his head. There was no way she was going to talk him out of kicking Nikolas' ass, not for one second.

"I came in the house and you were on the floor crying," he interrupted her vehemently, "I don't want to hear any excuses about Nikolas." The doctor blinked at the cold exact tone of voice but she said nothing.

"You're being ridiculous," Elizabeth lifted an arched eyebrow in amusement, making him lift their joined fingers to his mouth and brush a kiss across their knuckles. "Now be quiet and let the doctor speak."

The woman looked as if she didn't know what to make of the two of them, "Well, as I was saying, Elizabeth was doing everything as well as she could under the circumstances." Then the doctor leaned over and turned on one of the machines filling the room with the most amazing sound.

It beat out in furious rhythm, one he had heard before. _Heartbeat. _

Only this sounded different. "What's wrong with the baby's heart?" He demanded and watched as Elizabeth rolled onto her back and the woman lifted Elizabeth's gown, spreading clear gel over her lower abdomen.

"It's a bit early for this," she began as she flipped on the machine, one that produced those ultra sounds from what he remembered, and she placed the little indicator on Elizabeth's belly, running along until she found what she looked for. "There we are," she smiled, "I was a little curious at Elizabeth's' growth in just fifteen weeks, but I thought it was because she's so slim. I would have checked the baby's heartbeat on the next visit and found it then. It's always good to find out early, so the mother can take extra precautions. Get more rest, take in more calories. I know Elizabeth is worried about her previous miscarriages, but there is nothing in either that causes me to believe that this won't be a normal healthy delivery, though I am looking for closer to 32 weeks instead of normal gestation."

The words were spinning around in his head and whether it was his concern for Elizabeth or fear for their baby, he could not figure out what the hell the woman was talking about. "But is the baby okay?" He demanded.

She took a pointer and placed it on the shadows on the screen, pointing to two separate pulsating specks. He blinked once, hard, at the implication, brow creasing into a frown as he glanced down at Elizabeth who had a look of wonder on her face still and he finally understood what it meant. What the ragged sounds filling the room was.

_Two heartbeats._

"Your babies are just fine," Dr. Allen smiled and he felt his eyes widen. Shock. Overwhelming joy. He couldn't distinguish the difference and at the moment he couldn't find reason to give a damn. Whipped his gaze back to Elizabeth's.

"Twins?"


	9. Chapter 9

Next Chapter. Thank you all for the great reviews.

Rated: M

Disclaimer: I don't own them, I just like writing about them.

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**_There You'll Be_**

Chapter Eight

In the end, Jason didn't hurt Nikolas Cassadine, though his hands certainly itched do so.

Only because it would have upset Elizabeth and she had already been hurt enough by her so called friend, the last thing he wanted was to add more stress. When he returned to the cottage that night, he had been in shock and kicking Cassadine's ass hadn't been an issue. Nikolas and Emily spent the night, mostly so Cam felt secure, though the little boy had been unable to hide his worry for his mother. In the end, they both ended up sleeping on the couch downstairs and going to pick Elizabeth up the next morning. When they returned, Nikolas and Emily were gone, leaving only a note apologizing for getting Elizabeth upset and that they would speak to her when she returned to Port Charles.

Thanksgiving was interesting, since he was in charge of cooking the meal with Elizabeth supervising. He was still a little shocked that he and Elizabeth were going to have twins. She had good-naturedly endured his hovering, _he _knew he was hovering he just couldn't seem to help himself. The doctor had suggested she take the next week and stay off her feet as much as possible, to assure that her blood pressure remained normal.

Afterwards, she was to rest at least once a day for an hour or more. Elizabeth had readily agreed, including cutting back her hours at work to part time. She protested when he asked to move in to the cottage, but he promised that they would explain to Cameron that he was only there to help out. Then he was forced to tell her that he would have to leave soon. He would stay for the week Dr. Allen wanted her to rest, but putting off his return would only ask for trouble and more unwanted visitors.

The last thing he wanted was for Quartermaines to descend on them. Or worse, Carly.

Besides, he needed to return for the ELQ board meeting anyway. And he wanted to be the one to break this news to Sam. She deserved to hear it from him first and not through rumors or Sonny.

Cam was disappointed, but Jason tried to reassure him that they would be seeing each other soon. Despite this, Cam was still sad, and Jason understood why Elizabeth had tried to protect him. It wasn't fair to give the little boy an illusion of normalcy and then snatch it away from him. What he never expected was his own sense of sorrow that he had to return to Port Charles. Leaving, he was forced to acknowledge Elizabeth's words as they sat on the porch swing their last night together. Decisions would have to be made, it was the reason she had come up here to think in the first place.

"When you return, Lucky will probably have come back from rehab," he said, adjusting his arms around Elizabeth as he rested his chin against the top of her head. She lay between his legs, both of their hands over the babies, _babies_, and he rocked them gently with his foot. The night air was chilly, but sitting out here was so nice that neither of them wanted it to end so soon. "He'll be better, or at least better than he was that night of your argument. His head will certainly be clear and he'll want to apologize for the way things happened between the two of you."

"And," she murmured, shifting slightly as she found a more comfortable spot, "It doesn't change anything. I still filed for divorce. Will I forgive Lucky, yes, if he's sincere and seems more like himself. It's too late to go back, and quite frankly, I don't want to. In the back of my mind will always be the question of how he truly feels about Cam, about these babies. I love Lucky, but I don't want to be with Lucky. Not anymore."

"If he hadn't said that," he ventured gently.

"I still don't know. I still hadn't forgiven him for getting hooked on the pills in the first place. He let his pride get in the way of what was best for our family and we all had to suffer the consequences of his actions. And I can barely stand to think about Maxie. So even if he hadn't said those cruel things, there were still major issues that we were facing."

She was silent for a moment and the instant he felt her tense he knew the question she was going to ask. Everyone seemed to tip toe around the subject of him and Sam. "What are you going to do? She's going to be hurt Jason, there is no escaping that, which will make it more difficult for the two of you to work through your problems."

"I don't know if there are solutions to our problems." He sat up, turning her around so that he could see her face, "Maybe if we hadn't slept together, or if I didn't have these feelings for you, it would be simple. In my head, I get why Sam slept with Ric. In time, we probably could overcome that. But I can't ignore the feelings I have for you."

"You can't build a good relationship based on children," Elizabeth's shook her had sadly. "If you love Sam, then you owe it to yourself to try to make it work."

"And my feelings for you? I should just set them aside?"

"Maybe its just nostalgia, wondering what could have been."

"Wondering what could have been doesn't make me want to kiss you," he said baldly. They tried to ignore this, maybe that was the problem. Ignoring things never made them go away. If decisions needed to be made, the truth needed to be accepted.

"I made love to you, hell, I still want to make love to you. Telling myself that it's wrong, or that I'm hurting Sam doesn't make those needs go away. I like being with you. I've always liked being with you. Even when we were all screwed up, with me wanting you and you still hurting over Lucky, or me screwing up or you sleeping with Zander, I always needed to be with you."

"But Jason," she started and he silenced her with a finger over her lips.

"I've always known I could trust you. You have had my back so many times when I needed you and you always came through. That winter I was shot, or when I came back and you let me stay in your studio and kept it a secret even though it went against your need to tell Lucky the truth. Even now, when you stole that file from the PCPD and shredded it and could have gotten in serious trouble for it."

He frowned and tried to vocalize what he was feeling, which had never been his strong point, "Yes I love Sam. Yet, I have feelings for you that I can't deny. They started a long time ago when I got to know you, respected your strength, and could have been love but somehow we just never made the right step. I buried those feelings, and I'm glad we managed to stay friends."

"So am I," she smiled, "But if you love Sam."

"We have something Elizabeth. Those feelings I buried, came rushing back the night we made love. Circumstances seem to be telling us it's time to explore those feelings, don't you think?"

"I'm," she looked away, so he cupped her chin, lifting so that he could see into her eyes. "I'm scared." She said finally and just the thought of her being afraid of anything tore at his insides. "I'm afraid to take that risk, that if we try to be more than friends then we might lose that friendship. I don't want us to be two bickering parents, angry and hurt over a broken relationship, with our children stuck in the middle. I want to know that I can always come to you when I need you and you'll be there. I want to know that if you ever need me I'll do everything I can to be there for you. What happens if all of that changes?"

"That hasn't changed so far," he pointed out. "We've hurt each other before. When I lied about Sonny, Courtney. When you slept with Zander, Lucky. Yet we always seem to find our way back to here when we need each other the most." He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, touched a finger to that little clef in her chin, unable to resist touching her. "I'm not saying things will be easy. There are still problems, like my work, but not only do we owe it to our children to see where this could take us, we owe it to ourselves as well."

"And if we do this and you regret not taking the chance to make things better between you and Sam?"

"It will be my decision. There won't be any regret because despite everything, no matter how this ends between us, I know we'll always have friendship between us."

"You say that now," she blinked, a sad smile curving her full lips. "This could go so wrong but," she sighed slowly, "I'm willing to take a chance. I have feelings for you too Jason." She admitted, "Maybe you're right. Maybe it is time to see where this will take us."

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"I said that when I adjusted the final estimates I would call you," he growled into the cell phone, severely annoyed by the Quartermaine barking in his ear, "Don't rush me, I'll do this my way and if you can't take it, you shouldn't have come to me for help in the first place."

Jason pressed the end button and tossed the cell onto the desk on top of the files scattered before him. He scrubbed a hand over his face, wondering not for the first time why he agreed to help Edward. The man was a pest on good days, and drove him to drink on others. He drew in a deep breath, inhaling the fresh scent of paint and wondered why he was working over here and not in his own apartment. Then the door flew open, with the number one reason he had risked paint fumes for a little privacy.

"Jason, what is going on? And what are you doing over here in Sonny's old place?" Carly stormed inside, shutting the door behind her and started removing her coat. She had draped it on her arm and was getting ready to start in on one of her usual diatribes when she frowned and really took a look around. He didn't wonder at her confusion, instead of the old place she was used to, all the furniture was gone with drop clothes everywhere, except this desk he kept over for his own use, but would remove when everything was done. "What the hell is going on here?"

Before leaving Brunswick, he had questioned where Elizabeth was going to live when she returned to Port Charles and she had told him at her grandmothers. As much as he respected Audrey Hardy, it just wasn't safe for Elizabeth and Cam to live there. When the truth came out about her carrying his children, she would need guards. The look on her face told him exactly how she felt about it, but, unfortunately it was going to be a fact of their life from now on. He knew she wouldn't want to live with him, so he suggested Sonny's old place.

Now that look had been priceless.

_"No offense Jason, but Sonny's old apartment is kind of tacky," Elizabeth had smiled to take some of the sting off the remark after wrinkling her nose._

He told her he could take care of that, if she would consider it. So she had reluctantly agreed to think about it and he had been forced to live up to his promise.

The second afternoon he was back in Port Charles, he reluctantly called Monica and asked if she knew anything about fixing up an apartment. She had seemed surprised, but said nothing, just gave him the number of someone she thought was good. If he thought that part was hard, actually walking into the woman's office surrounded by all that fabric and stuff, was like traversing through hell. He was forced to prop himself up in an uncomfortable chair for the next ten minutes while he waited for this Stephanie Tyler woman to finish with her client. He had been ten seconds from leaving when she stepped out of her office, a petite woman dressed in a sharp dark green suit and her hair pulled back so tight he wondered if it made her head hurt. The office she invited him into, in that crisp no nonsense voice, did a lot toward making up for his previous discomfort.

He sat down on the couch, and she placed black rimmed glasses on her nose, and stared at him over the top. When he told her that he had a penthouse he needed redecorating, she had picked up a tablet and started shooting questions at him like bullets. Who was it for? How many rooms? Did she have any children? What kind of woman was she?

That had hit a little too close to personal in his opinion and he had almost lost his temper. She slid those glasses off her face, crossing her legs all business like and explained herself. "Is she gentle, delicate, feminine? Or, no nonsense? Does she like pretty things or that doesn't really matter to her?"

"She's an artist," he blurted out, unable to come up with anything else. Was Elizabeth gentle, yes of course she was. Sweet, generous, loving, look at how she was with Cam. Loyal to a fault. Proven by how she stood by Lucky for so long. No nonsense, yeah she was that too, because she had the ability to make the best of any situation.

The interior designer nodded then, a clean smile softening her features, "So she likes and knows how to make use of color. That's good."

Then Jason remembered the morning they woke up in Brenda's room, how beautiful she had looked as the morning light came through the windows, her sleep mused hair against the pillow and he had pressed a kiss to her mouth, making love to her again. Soft and slow. They had moved in sync like familiar lovers coming together in need of pleasure and not the result of some one night stand filled with regret. He glanced around the room, his eyes finally hitting what he was searching for, and he stood walking over to the table, picking up the swatch of material. "This." Was all he said, "This color is Elizabeth."

That had begun this madness that he was surrounded by now. He told the woman he didn't care about the cost, or what she bought, as long as it was ready the week before Christmas and it was a place where a child would feel he could run around without fear of breaking anything.

"Jason, what are you doing to Sonny's penthouse?" Carly asked and he leaned back in his chair to stare.

Sonny hadn't wanted to sell him the penthouse, was for some reason upset that he wasn't trying to fix things between him and Sam. In the end, he agreed, because Sonny didn't have a legitimate reason to hold on to the place except spite. The contractors came in the next day and had been working on the place for the past four days. "What does it look like Carly?" He asked and set aside his pen, knowing this confrontation was going to take awhile. Besides, since she was here, he wanted to tell her about Elizabeth. He was just surprised sonny hadn't already done so.

"I know what it looks like but why?" then she glared at him, "Is Sam moving in over here? That's why you're doing this? I would think you would move her back into your place instead of across the hall," she shrugged, "but what do I know."

"No, it's not for Sam. It's for Elizabeth."

"Elizabeth?" her eyes widened with astonishment, "Why would Elizabeth be moving over here? She's married to lucky. When he gets home from rehab, she will come back to Port Charles and they'll live happily ever after in that little two room cubby they share over on the other side of town." She shivered, "I don't know why they lived in that place. She's a nurse, he's a detective. I know they can afford better."

When Carly opened her mouth, sometimes he was truly amazed at the things that came out of it. "There's something I need to tell you." He started slowly, standing to place his hands on his waist and figuring the more times he said it, the easier it would get. "Elizabeth is pregnant."

She took a quick sharp breath, then rolled her eyes, "Jason, I know it's in your nature to want to protect her, though I have no idea why, it's Lucky's job to provide for his wife and their children."

"The babies are mine."

Caught off guard, was it the admission itself or the plural form of the word, Carly just gaped blank, amazed and speechless for probably the first time in her life. She blinked several times and opened her mouth as if to say something, only to shut it again. Frowning she pushed her hair away from her face, then pointed at him, opening her mouth again, only to snap it shut as she turned away still quite stunned. Finally she managed, "Babies?" in a wispy squeak.

"Twins," and despite everything, he couldn't resist the small smile of pleasure.

"Well," she glanced around, then a bright loving smile broke across her face, "When you do something, you sure don't do it half way," and threw back hr head and let out a great peal of laughter just before she threw her arms around his neck. "Oh Jason! Babies? _Your babies_?

He didn't know what he had been expecting, anger, disbelief, but not this happiness. She leaned back with tears in her eyes and pressed a quick kiss to his mouth, laughing probably at his stunned expression, then wiped a hand over his mouth. "Look at your face?" She hugged him again, squeezing tight once more, then stepped back, "I'm so happy for you."

"Thanks," he offered cautiously.

"What?" her mouth quirked.

"Well, I guess I just wasn't expecting this."

"Come on, Jason, this is priceless. I mean, if anyone deserves to be a father it's you. Look how wonderful you are with Michael and Morgan. So not only do you get one baby but twins?" she shook her head, wiping away the tear that slipped down her cheek, "It's great, because," then she squinted as if the rest of the declaration had finally registered. "_Elizabeth_?"

He sat back down in the chair, nodding slowly. "Yes, and before you say anything, count to ten." He warned.

"One, two, ten," she huffed, "When the hell did this happen?"

"Back in August."

He watched her nimble mind put two and two together, "Back when Sam and Ric slept together?" Then he saw the sympathy, "You knew didn't you. You've always known. This crap about the business being too dangerous for her, that's why the two of you never got back together because you knew she slept with Ric."

"That's part of the reason, but only part Carly."

"You had sex with Elizabeth?" she whispered, still shocked.

"It wasn't just sex," he demanded, that made it sound cheap, like it meant nothing. His children were not conceived that way. There was affection between him and Elizabeth. Even Carly couldn't deny that he had always cared for Elizabeth.

"Touchy much," she snarked and he rolled his eyes. Ignoring him, she went on, "SO you and Elizabeth were together, she's pregnant and you're moving her into Sonny's old place."

"My place," he contradicted.

"Really?" she lifted an eyebrow, "And what about Lucky? Her husband?"

"They're getting a divorce."

"Hmm, and you're getting married?"

"No," he shook his head, and that seemed to surprise her as well. "We're going to take things slow and see where we go from there."

Carly crossed her arms over her chest, "and you and Sam? Does this mean you're finished?"

He had been saying it for months now, but as he stood her, he realized that maybe he had been holding on still. He glanced around the room, noting the paint he had chosen for the walls for Elizabeth and finally closed the door on that relationship once and for all. He wasn't bringing that guilt into what he was trying to build with Elizabeth. "Yes. Sam and I are finished."

For the second time, Carly surprised him. There were no smart comebacks, no laughter, and no potshots at Sam. She just nodded once, and walked over to the desk to sit on the edge. Glancing down absently at the papers, she lifted one, frowned, "Why do you have financial statements from ELQ?"

He snatched the paper from her hand, "None of your business," hating that his usual it's business tone, it sounded like he was hiding something. Well he was but Carly was the last person he wanted to know that.

She didn't protest, just glanced around the penthouse, the desk, then back at him and with a deliberate folding of her arms over her chest said, "Jason Morgan, soon to be father and working with the Quartermaines for once? What is this world coming to?"

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She missed him.

It was as simple as that and now that she admitted it, she wanted to move past it. If only it were that simple. She missed their long talks, how he was always there to listen to her.

Now more than ever, she wished he was here for her to talk to. It was why she had come today. Couldn't bear a day longer away from him. She raised her fist and knocked on the door three times and waited, her hands fidgeting slightly, biting down on her lower lip. What would he say when he opened the door? Things had been left in the air between them but now she knew exactly what she wanted.

She wanted him.

When the door swung open, she was a little taken aback to see the smile on his face. Then one spread across her lips as well, maybe this was the right decision, coming to him.

"Jason," her husky voice sounded unsure, so she took a breath, "Can I come in?"

"Sam?" now the look in his eyes didn't seem so welcoming, and she felt like she was intruding. "Sure," he stepped to the side and she entered the apartment, remembering what it had been like to live here. "I was actually going to come see you tomorrow."

She was staying with Sonny since her blow-up with Alexis, but she hadn't even known that Jason was back in town. Sonny told her that Jason went out of town on business, but he had been gone for almost a month, the longest she had ever known him to be gone. "Am I interrupting something?" His desk was covered with papers, the lap top he used for work open and turned on making her remember all the times she had helped him before.

"I was just reading some e-mails," he shrugged toward the computer, turning that intense blue focus on her for the first time since he found out she slept with Ric. In the beginning, he had barely been able to look at her before pain flickered in those eyes and he turned away. Gradually, that changed, but it was never the same as when they were together. Now seeing his eyes completely on her, she realized how uncomfortable it made her. "Is something wrong?"

"No I just," maybe this was a mistake, she thought to herself. "I wanted to see you. Jason can we talk?" A bell rang on his computer announcing he had an instant message, and they both turned in its direction just as the screen opened up and a picture flashed on making her breath catch. Pain twisted in her chest, but it wasn't as bad as it had been in the beginning. The tears she felt rim her eyes didn't spill over, but that didn't stop her sadness. This was why he was so happy.

Jason hit a key, minimizing the window and turned back in her direction with a frown. "I didn't mean for you to find out that way." He didn't bother to deny what she had seen, what seemed like yesterday but was truly several months ago, she had smiled over a picture just like this one.

An ultrasound.

There was only one woman who could be sending Jason pictures of an ultra sound. Liz Spencer.

"Yours?" she asked, gesturing to the screen. It would make sense. Why would Jason disappear at exactly the same time as Liz? The thought had always been in the back of her mind, that he had gone to her. She had tried to focus on Alexis, but now she didn't even have that to distract her from missing Jason.

"Yes." He said simply. Just like Jason. No excuses, no explanations, nothing. If she wanted to know something, she was going to have to ask.

She nodded, "And what about us Jason?"

"Sam," the expression in those blue eyes that had looked at her once with so much love, now was gentle but resolute. And that's when she realized it was finally over. Even with his hurt over her sleeping with Ric, even when he was trying to push her away for her own good, there had been hope. Now there was none. Elizabeth was giving him something that she hadn't. A child.

Before he could speak, she shook her head, unable to stand to hear an apology, "No," she murmured, "No, Jason don't." She turned back to the door, opening it so that she could escape away from this pain, then turned back because she needed to know. "Is it because she's pregnant?"

"No," he answered quietly. "And it's not because of what happened between you and Ric either," he said surprising her. "I'm sorry I hurt you, I never meant that."

She believed him, but it didn't stop the pain, "Then why? Why Elizabeth? Why now?"

"Because," he stopped, took a breath, and in a voice so soft she almost didn't hear it said, "Because I believe this is where life was leading me all along."


	10. Chapter 10

Hey! Sorry this is late, I meant to post it before now. I'm actually finished, so I'm going to post the last chapters and the epilogue all at once. Thanks everyone for reading and the great reviews. I don't know if I would have finished this story without them.

A/N: This chapter has been edited to fit the rating here. The original is posted on my message board.

Rated: M

Disclaimer: I don't own them, I just like writing about them

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_**There You'll Be**_

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Chapter Nine

_"'Cause, it'll bleed, it'll hurt  
It'll take everything to say that I'm yours  
It'll sink deep into my heart  
If you fall in love and fall right back out  
It'll crush, it'll leave me blown away  
But I'll regret every single day  
If I don't try with you  
You're worth the pain I'm going through  
I'll give myself, give my self away  
And take a step of faith" _

-Rie Sinclair, from **_Step of Faith_**

Only a few weeks had passed, but as she pulled her car into the driveway of her Grams house, Elizabeth felt like she had been away from Port Charles for years. Everything was different. Where the trees had been full with leaves of changing colors and slowly falling to the ground before she left, now they were bare. The air now was cold, the dj on the radio predicting temperatures to only reach the upper thirties with a chance of snow. That was nice actually, especially since it was less than a week before Christmas. Cameron should have a white Christmas this year. It wouldn't make up for their broken family, she released a sigh, but there was no sense in dwelling on things she couldn't change. Originally she had intended to stay in Brunswick until after the New Year, but she just couldn't imagine spending Christmas away from her friends and family.

No matter how upset there were bound to be.

As much as she hated it, she had told her Grams over the phone she was pregnant. Elizabeth didn't want her to find out about it from anyone else, not after all the support she had given. Grams first response had been happiness, a new child was always a miracle, but she had asked what she was going to do about Lucky. That's when she had been forced to tell her about Jason. In telling one truth she was finally forced to tell it all. The drug abuse, though Grams knew about, Maxie, which she hadn't. Being with Jason and not telling Lucky. That day in her bathroom when she took the pregnancy test, what Lucky did and said.

The disappointment in Grams voice had hurt, not just because of Jason's job with Sonny, but because she had broken her marriage vows to Lucky. Only, Elizabeth couldn't regret the night she and Jason were together, not just because of the twins, but she had needed him that night and as always he had been her rock.

Elizabeth paused, gripping the steering wheel tight as that truly filtered into her mind. Jason had always been her rock. "How could I be so stupid?" she whispered, not wanting to wake Cam in the back seat. How could she find that in Lucky? The ability to be strong through anything, to be there for her no matter what, how could she find that in Lucky when Jason was always the comparison? She loved Lucky, this wasn't a lie, but had she carried a young girl's love too long and expected it to live up to a woman's expectations? She wasn't completely screwed up though, at least she knew to get out a bad marriage when it was time.

"Come on Cam," she was forced to nudge him awake, unable to scoop him up and carry him inside the house like normal. She shoved his hat down over his ears, so he wouldn't get cold, and guided him half sleeping up the three stairs, knocked and waited for an answer. "Grams," she smiled at the familiar face, "We're here finally."

"Well Elizabeth," she smiled but glanced behind her nervously, "You made good time," she opened the screen and helped guide Cam inside.

"I was surprised, but then I remember it was always faster coming home than," she paused as she walked into the living room and found that her grandmother had company. Three people she should have expected to be sitting right here when she walked through the door. It didn't matter if they were invited by her Grams or if they took it upon themselves to be here after learning she was coming home early. She knew exactly why they were sitting here. "It took getting there." She finished dryly, placing a hand on Cam's shoulder and moving him closer to her leg.

"I'm tired Mommy," he murmured, rubbing at his eyes.

"Why don't you let me put Cam down," her grandmother suggested, then walked close, "Just talk to them," she whispered before leading Cameron down the hall toward the back of the house where the bedroom he usually used was.

"Elizabeth."

"Nikolas," she answered back. He sat on the couch next to Emily, each dressed for the cold, sweaters and denim. Nikolas had an arm around Emily and a tea cup sat on her leg and their expressions were identical, concerned, guilty and just a bit of what looked like anger. She didn't know what they were angry about, if anything, she was the one who had every right to be upset. "We just keep meeting up like this." She smiled, though not nicely and not failing to notice that neither rose to perform their usual hug and kiss on cheek greeting.

Lucky sat sullenly on a chair next to them, with a cup cradled in his hands. Though he looked better than he did the last time she had seen him, he still was a far cry from the man who had stood before all their family and friends and promised to honor and keep her. To love and to cherish her. How quickly those promises were broken when a pill was involved. "Lucky." Her lawyer in Brunswick informed her that Lucky had received his copy of the divorce papers, though he had yet to sign and file them before she left. By accounts he had them for two weeks now, she couldn't understand what the hold up was. "Emily."

Instead of waiting for someone to speak, she turned to remove her coat, ignoring Nikolas' quickly drawn breath. The ballet neck sweater did nothing to conceal her pregnancy, and why should it, she was happy to be pregnant. The babies were a blessing not something to be ashamed of. A small smile touched Emily's lips, that she didn't' miss. Maybe it would be easier to talk to Emily than she thought. How could Emily be upset about her brother's children? They were her nieces or nephews, Emily should be happy for Jason, not just siding with Lucky.

"How have you been," Emily asked, "We wanted to stay to see you when you came home from the hospital, but figured it was probably best to go home." Emily figured right, though Elizabeth didn't say it aloud. Emily wasn't stupid, the mood Jason had been in after the news of the twins set in, he probably would have shot first and asked questions later. "Jason didn't tell us much that night," she began and Lucky rolled his eyes.

"Jason," he grunted snidely, setting his cup down on the coffee table much harder than necessary. "We must not upset Saint Jason, my wife's hero."

"If you would sign the divorce papers I wouldn't be your wife and we wouldn't' have to have this conversation at all," she shot back. Nikolas stood, holding out his hands.

"Okay," he started slowly, "Let's just calm down and talk rationally, can we do that?" She lifted an eyebrow but said nothing, just went over to the recliner on the other side of the room and carefully lowered herself into it, careful of the belly that had seemed to swell overnight. "Now, I know that a lot of things have happened that may seem like they can't be fixed, but Elizabeth, you and Lucky love each other, there is no reason why you should be rushing into this divorce."

"Nikolas, with all due respect because I know you care about Lucky, but this isn't your concern."

"That didn't stop you from interfering when he and Emily were breaking up," Lucky pointed out, "But you're good at being a hypocrite aren't' you? You ride me for months because I slept with Maxie all the while holding on to your little secret that you fucked Jason."

"I was supposed to just let you overdose? Let you destroy your life?"

"So you lied to save me?" he frowned, "Poor, poor, Elizabeth the martyr. Sacrificing her great love for Jason Morgan while she endures her marriage to her worthless husband."

Her first instinct was to protest, she wasn't trying to be a martyr, she was trying to remain true to her marriage vows, but in all honesty, the moment she let Jason kiss her, she had broken those vows as well. Two wrongs didn't make it right. The fact that she had no regrets should have been her first clue. "You're right," she whispered, surprising them all. Even Lucky who had been the one to accuse her looked like he hadn't expected her to say that. "I wasn't trying to be a martyr, but I didn't think anything was wrong with being with Jason. It didn't matter that I was planning to leave. I was trying to protect you, instead of letting you hit rock bottom on your own."

"I don't need you to protect me."

"I know," she nodded in agreement. "You're an adult." She placed a hand over her face, "I'm just as guilty of being an idiot as Jason is," she murmured more to herself than the rest of the room. Jason had been trying to protect Sam, taking her choices away, and she was trying to protect Lucky, doing exactly the same thing. She hadn't wanted to seem selfish, or wrong, when in truth, if she had simply left Lucky, no one would have blamed her for it. "You know," she stood and went back to the closet to retrieve her jacket ignoring their protests, "This has actually been very enlightening."

"Nikolas, you're wrong. There is every need to rush this divorce. I'm not in love with Lucky. I'll always care about him, I hope he's getting the help he needs to turn his life around, but I'm not in love with him. I should have divorced him months ago when I saw him let Maxie into our apartment that third time so they could have sex in my bed." She shivered as she remembered sleeping on that sofa bed. How low she had sank to try to hold on to a marriage that she didn't want anymore but felt obligated to fight for.

"Elizabeth," Nikolas started but she just ignored him.

"Emily, I hope you can find some happiness for your brother. You know no matter how much he hid it, that Jason always wanted a family of his own." Then she looked at Lucky and drew in a deep breath pulling the wool cap neatly over her head. "Lucky, I loved you. I loved you with all my heart and I don't regret one moment of our marriage. I'm sorry we failed, but I'm not shouldering all the blame for it. Yes I slept with Jason, yes I'm pregnant by him. Yet until that night, I honored my marriage vows, no matter how much you accused me of sleeping with Patrick. Being married to you taught me that you can't take marriage or relationships for granted. We fell apart, and I'll accept my role in that."

"I don't want to," he began but she shook her ahead.

"Sign the papers Lucky," she said simply, "It's time to end this endless circle that we're on. I'm tired of riding around on it, afraid to take the step that my heart knows is right because of what everyone else will say or feel. You, me, Jason. This time, I'm going to take the path I've known deep in my heart was the right one all along."

"He'll get you killed," Nikolas pointed out.

"I could have been killed when Courtney hit me with her car. I could have been killed when Helena made you drug me. I could have been killed when Jax's car went off the road. Being with Jason doesn't automatically mean I'll be killed, nor does it ensure that I'll never be hurt. The only thing being with Jason promises is that I'll be happy." She smiled finally growing up, "That's the only thing in life that you're ever promised, the chance at happiness. Whether or not you take that chance is up to you. I refuse to look back on my life and say, well I lived a good long safe time but I was never truly happy?"

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Jason walked back to his living room, carrying the bottle of imported beer in one hand and half listening to the conversation on the cell phone in his ear. He took a long swallow, walking over to his balcony, trying not to remember the last time he had been out there with Elizabeth. Holding her in his arms had felt so good, for once he wasn't thinking of who could hurt them, or what could happen. It was dangerous, but for that moment there had only been her and they way she felt and he had been content. "No Edward, those numbers are right." He answered the question for the third time, "I don't care if you don't believe it, it's the truth. Are you complaining?"

At the man's swift denial, Jason almost laughed. The two of them would never be completely in sync, Edward was much too annoying, domineering and condescending, for that to ever happen. Yet since he had agreed to help ELQ with their little problem, Jason had come to understand the man better. Though he inwardly vowed to never utter the phrase family duty to any of his children ever. That thought itself brought on a smile of its own. His children. A dream he'd never dared hope to have. "Yes, all the plans are in place and will be ready for the stockholders meeting the night of the Christmas party." He paused, unsure if he should do this or not, but if he were going to take one step, he would take it completely. "Is it okay if I bring a guest?"

There was silence on the other end and Jason wasn't surprised. Edward probably thought he would show up, drop his bombshell and escape into the night getting as far away from the family as fast as human possible. Then he rolled his eyes, "No Edward, not Sonny, though he is a stock holder and," he paused letting the man make of that what he would. "I was speaking of a," he paused, not knowing what to call Elizabeth. The woman who had his emotions twisted in a knot. The mother of his coming children. The woman he was itching to see and would have driven back to Brunswick tonight if he could make it back to the meeting tomorrow in time. "Friend." He settled for, knowing the truth would out anyway.

"Fine," he sighed, "And you don't have to call me every night, the numbers aren't going to change in the morning," Jason shook his head, knowing that Edward was taking advantage to attempt to draw him back into the family fold.

The door bell rang and he glanced down at his watch, wondering who could be coming over so late. "Go to bed Edward, it's late. I'll see you tomorrow," he ordered and hung up the phone, crossing to the door.

Blinked at the vision before him.

All he could think was how he had just been thinking of her, needing her. Momentarily speechless, they just stared at each other in silence. Her very presence made his head spin, greedy eyes devouring the sight of her. She was so beautiful, was the only thought that managed to form. Specks of white were melting on her black wool coat and the black cap she wore pulled down over her long hair. Eyes brilliant like a Venetian sky glowed with some inner secret that he wanted knowledge of. Then her mouth began to curve, moist, full and tinted the color of the deepest berry, making him wonder if she would be as sweet. "Can I come in?"

"Uh, yeah," he stepped back so she could pass, closing the door behind her, watching as she crossed to his couch and slipped off the coat and lay it across. Gentle, serene and more beautiful than he ever imagined, in just a simple cashmere sweater that stretched over her belly and a pair of black pants that reveal just how slender she was despite the babies. She pulled the hat off and tossed it aside, shaking out her hair, the heavy silken mass falling in loose waves over her shoulders. It made him want to touch, to feel it against his skin, twined in his fingers as he gripped the back of her head and sated himself on the taste of her. "When did you come back?"

"Just tonight. I went to my Grams first, that's where Cam is now."

"How is he?" He had spoken to him on the phone since leaving Brunswick, but he found he missed the precocious boy as much as his mother.

"Looking forward to Christmas," she chuckled, "He was worried that Santa wouldn't be able to find him since he wasn't at home." Her voice trailed off, making him take a step toward her, to trace a thumb down her cheek.

"Is something wrong?"

"No," she swallowed and looked up, "Well, unless you consider the fact that Lucky, Nikolas and Emily were at my Grams waiting for me to arrive, a problem."

"So Lucky's out of rehab?" He had been so preoccupied with fixing up the penthouse and dealing with ELQ, Sonny and the business, that he hadn't realized Lucky could be home. "How did that go?"

"How do you think?" she smirked, then sighed heavily, "I walk into the door and there they are, Nikolas, Emily and Lucky, like they're about to stage some kind of intervention," she shot him a withering glance, "Don't think I couldn't appreciate the irony of that. So everyone is there ready to talk some sense into me I guess, and we start with the whole, I love Lucky so we can't get a divorce thing, and"

"Do you?" he interrupted.

"And Nikolas is raring up for one of those righteous lectures about how," her voice broke off in mid-sentence finally hearing his question, "What? Do I what?"

"Do you love him and don't want the divorce?"

"I thought we had been through this?" she looked at him, clearly surprised by the question. "I told you that I wanted the divorce."

"That was before he came back from rehab. And you said that you loved him, so I was just wondering if that had changed." Damned if he didn't sound like a needy fuck, but he had been here before too many times. They would take one step toward each other and then she would go back to Lucky. And he would be the one left standing alone wanting her. Wanting what he shouldn't dare to want.

He needed this time to be different.

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If she had needed to see how much her past actions had hurt Jason, all she had to do was look into his eyes at this moment. He was expecting her to say that she was going to give Lucky another chance. It made her feel horrible. "Do you remember that afternoon when you asked me to go to Italy with you and I said no? You warned me that there was something wrong with Lucky and I didn't want to listen. I couldn't take that step toward you because I felt I owed Lucky my loyalty. He was my first love, he helped me through the rape and when we realized that he hadn't died, I felt like I owed it to him to be there to make it through to the other side like he helped me. I don't regret that afternoon Jason. Just like all the other places my life has taken me over the years no matter how painful they've been."

She crossed to him, placing her hands on his chest, "You said you liked that about me, that I could look back with no regrets."

"I do," he said in a thick voice, now when everything was so important, he couldn't conceal his emotions behind that wall of his and part of her was glad, because when the next words were so important, so vital to their lives, everything they were should lay bare for the other to see. She reached own and took his hand, placing it over her stomach, over the two lives they had created.

"If I had gone with you to Italy, I wouldn't have Cam. If I had gone with you, we wouldn't have our babies. I'm not choosing Lucky," she laced their fingers together. "I'm making the right choice this time, the only choice. I want to be with you Jason. For twenty minutes or a lifetime, I want to be with you. I know that if we didn't take this moment and make it ours, I would regret it. I would regret it for the rest of my life."

"Can I show you something?"

"Yeah."

He led her from his apartment, and she smiled, knowing where he was going, knowing that he was going to ask her to move in over here and that she was going to say yes, but knowing that it would only be temporary because there was no way she was going to stay away from him now.

A moment.

It had changed her life and there was no turning back now.

He opened the door and stepped aside so she could walk in, then turned on the light closing the door behind him. And all she could do was gape. Gone was that dark, depressing atmosphere that seemed to hang over the penthouse like a storm cloud. Even in the night there was a sense of light in the room. A soft dusky rose that could have looked much too feminine, the airy room seemed much larger than before. Hardwood floors had been exposed and glossed to a perfect shine, covered by a center rug of cream, a mist green and brown design.

Before the fireplace, sat a bronze sofa that seemed to match the rooms passionate palate of earth toned furnishings that was a mix of modern and vintage. The balcony was framed by cream drapes and a pair of elegant chairs in mist green linen but drawn back to let in the night sky. The furnishings were perfect and seemed to await her final touches, family pictures or flowers. Books in the gorgeous case that lined a wall, and little knick knacks that made an empty apartment more a home.

As beautiful as the apartment was, that wasn't the thing that made her breath catch in her throat. On the wall over the fireplace, all framed in neat black trimmed frames and matte finishes were various images, some that she recognized immediately. The gondolas traveling on the channels. The old architecture and even the way the land seemed to open so gorgeously and grab hold to the heart and make it ache.

"Since I couldn't take you to Italy, I decided to bring it to you." He looked so nervous and completely different than the confident man she was accustomed to seeing that she didn't know what to say. He shoved his hands down into the pockets of his jeans, "I had a room done for you, one for Cam and a nursery," his voice got really soft then, but that glow in his eyes couldn't be hidden.

"The woman, that interior designer, she left the kitchen the same, expect for a new coat of paint in this weird green and new furniture. And I figured you wouldn't want a dining room set in here like Sonny did, so I had her fix that other room off the kitchen into a dining room." He was right, she preferred family meals in the kitchen. A dining room was perfect for company. "I just wanted you to feel comfortable here."

She trailed a hand over one of the framed pictures, and turned back to him, "You did all of this for me?" He just nodded stepped forward, taking her hand in his. Without a word she followed him upstairs, awed at the bedroom he took her in. Without telling she knew this bedroom was meant for her. Low slung furnishings beneath an extravagantly high ceiling lent an air of dreamy beauty to the room. An antique grisaille changing screen stood next to a smoke grey chaise. Tapestry in vintage smoke damask parted at the windows to allow in a view of the city. Italian sconces on the walls provided muted romantic lighting. Hand work gave the room a personal and artisanal touch, whether from the cool powder blue brush textures on the walls or the delicate chandelier that hung over a Napoleonic style bed.

If downstairs had captured the essence of Italy in pictures, Jason had recreated a Tuscany villa right here in her bedroom.

"Do you remember our night together?" He ran a finger along the side of her face.

"How could I forget?" she answered in a husky voice that told him it meant as much to her as it did to him. "Seven years until the moment was finally right."

"We started hungry," he reached down and began slipping the pearl buttons on her sweater free one by one. "I wanted to feel your skin against mine. I wanted to bury myself inside you." Carefully he peeled the sleeves down her arms, then tossed it aside.

The feeling of being yanked into his arms assault her mind, so vividly she could almost feel it happening yet when she open her eyes he was still standing there, watching with a gaze that burned with desire, more than that night they shared.

"All I wanted was to drown in you," he traced his thumb across her lower lip, then brought to his mouth to lick slowly as if savoring the taste of her. "I think I knew the moment you wrapped around me that it wouldn't be enough."

"I tried to protect myself by saying we could only be together for one night," she murmured, "I knew I couldn't allow myself to the think past the next few hours or I wouldn't have been able to stand it," she confessed.

"Part of me knew that it would be one night and I hated it. Right there in that moment I cursed the rest of the world because I had found something good and it couldn't last. I knew I would have to move beyond the moment and I didn't want to." He had seemed so comfortable with their night being just that. One night. It hadn't even occurred to her that he might want more, as she had. "I tried to cram every moment we should have had into those few hours."

"I tried to stay awake so the night wouldn't end," she admitted, "I didn't want to miss one single second."

"And now," he reached out and place a hand over her stomach, "Now we have a chance."

"More than a chance I'd say," she smiled, "Are we doing this for the babies Jason?" She needed to know. She knew their children had brought them back together. They had forced her to confront the tattered remains of her marriage and finally find the strength to put it in the past. She needed to know if he was with her for them alone.

"I'm not," he confirmed much to her relief, "We don't have to be together to be good parents. I think we would be pretty good at it. I would hope that you would even allow me to be a father to Cam as well."

She tried to blink back the tears those words brought and failed, "You don't have to say that for me."

"I'm not," he shook his head, "He's a good boy Elizabeth, you should be proud. You're raising one hell of a boy. I'd be honored if you trusted me enough to allow me to be his father."

"And you don't care that he's Zander's son? That some people think he's a bastard?"

"It would be a little hypocritical of me since technically, I'm one as well," he pointed out making her close her eyes and the tears spill over. "Now I think that's the last time we'll use that word in relation to any of _our_ children."

"You're right," she nodded and vowed to put that hurtful word in the past with Lucky where it belonged.

"As for you and me," he leaned down and brushed his lips across hers once, so tenderly, she could almost feel her heart slow to a thump then begin to race in anticipation. "I really need you to understand," his mouth touched hers again, increasing the pressure just he tiniest bit, turning the caress into an actual kiss.

"What?" she breathed against his lips, aching for him to continue but wanting to hear what he would say.

"I want to be with you. Not out of obligation," one kiss that nibbled briefly at her lower lip, "Not because you're carrying my children," another kiss where his tongue licked softly at her mouth making arousal tighten seductively between her legs, "Not because I broke up with Sam," deeper this time his tongue seeking hers settling for nothing less than her full response, "Not because I want to protect you, or keep you safe."

She chuckled, "I understand. So why _do_ you want to be with me," she teased and he surprised her with his heartfelt response.

"Because you're a part of me. Everywhere my life has taken me, I've carried a piece of you along in my heart and I didn't even realize it until you showed up on my door step. That one moment changed my life forever. Now I want more than a moment, I want a lifetime," he stared deep into her eyes, so clear and blue in a way that she had never expected, "Now I want it all." He touched a brief kiss to her forehead, "I want all of you Elizabeth. One night wasn't enough," he kissed a path along the side of her jaw, stopping at her lips for a deeper taste. Moving along her chin, the length of her neck, then the spot at the base of her throat where her pulse hammered, "One night will never be enough. Will you give yourself to me?"

And she knew that he was asking more than just sex. Jason was always the chance that was too big for her to take, but she wasn't that young girl anymore. She was a woman who knew what she wanted finally for the first time in her life. And wasn't afraid to reach out for it. "Yes, Jason."


	11. Chapter 11

Rated: M

Disclaimer: I don't own them, I just like writing about them

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**_There You'll Be_**

Chapter Ten

"Black is slimming," Elizabeth reminded herself as she thumbed through the dresses on the rack. She lifted one simple sheath and managed to contain the grimace as she imagined her ever-growing pooch protruding forward and stretching the chiffon dress to its limits. "I refuse to go to a Quartermaine party looking like a poor relation," she muttered to herself, "Or worse, like a whale."

The choices on the clearance rack of Wyndams were severely limited. Unusually she was able to sneak in a purchase like this. Run into the store and grab something outrageously priced, marked down to just within her budget. That was when she was her normal size four. Pregnancy usually endowed her with an amazing figure that she normally enjoyed while it lasted, fuller breasts, curvier hips. Enjoyed it everyday except this one when she needed to find a damned dress.

Last night Jason had committed the most unpardonable offense in relationship etiquette, inviting her to a party with only hours notice. She still had to rush home, do something with her nails, wash her hair and try to make something of it before it was time to leave. She frowned thinking of the credit card Jason had placed in her hand and told her to get whatever she needed. She didn't' like it damn it.

For that one brief female induced second of course she had been pleased, but she couldn't. She had just accepted the penthouse that there was no way she could afford; she didn't want Jason thinking that he had to buy things for her to make her happy. Just being with him was enough. She had a good job, well, she hoped she still had a position after the leave of absence she had taken from GH. She was perfectly capable of buying herself a dress.

Then she sighed, remembering the anxious look on Jason's face as he handed her the card.

It wasn't about money for him and her heart knew this. It was about him being able to take care of her. Man issues that she had gone through with Lucky and hadn't understood until it was too late. Jason was a born provider. His first instinct to care and nurture the people important to him was part of the reason why she cared about him so much. Accustomed to taking care of herself and managing her own problems for so long, she had forgotten that in relationships you were partners. Meaning her and Jason would share the burdens as well as the joys.

Jason didn't think she wasn't capable of taking care of herself, he wanted to be able to do his part, she only had to loosen the strings on her pride and accept.

Secretly, it felt nice not having to worry about taking care of everything. After so many struggles it was a comfort to know that she had someone she could depend on. If that was a slight to Lucky, well so what. Jason wasn't Lucky.

Still, she wouldn't be taking advantage of Jason's generosity and wouldn't have people calling her a gold digger or that she purposely got pregnant so that Jason could take care of her. For this one night she would accept Jason's gift.

Tentatively, she walked around to the other side of the store. The couture section. She drew in a deep breath, placing a hand on her stomach. It was like an entirely different store. Women draped in furs, leather and diamonds walked around with a proprietary air. Sales clerks dressed in outfits way more expensive than hers followed the money around the store with a kiss ass smile on their smug faces. Elizabeth glanced down at her dark brown cords and the simple white knit Henley beneath her coat and felt sorely out of place. Even the Coach purse on her arm had been a gift from Emily for her birthday.

Ready to turn around and run, not walk but run, in the other direction, the snarky voice behind her stiffened her resolve instead.

"Well, well, the little muffin face has returned to the scene of the crime."

The very last person she wanted to confront in this very embarrassing moment. "Carly," she turned slowly and found the blonde who detested her holding a gorgeous gown in sleek teal in one hand and a dazzling suit in bright red in the other. Both were so exquisite Elizabeth didn't doubt they cost a fortune.

Carly looked her over, saying nothing, and she lifted a brow ready to volley the first salvo of insults aimed in her direction. "I take it you're going to the Quartermaine Christmas party if you're here in Wyndams contemplating what to wear in a price range that's completely out of your league." Elizabeth frowned not quite sure if that was an insult or if it was Carly just being her usual snarky self.

"Jax is going and asked me to accompany him," Carly shrugged looking uncomfortable with having to explain herself. Unusual because Carly never explained herself. It was common knowledge that the Quartermaines hated Carly and the feeling was mutual. Carly was pretty bold braving that crowd, then again, Elizabeth had never doubted Carly's nerve.

"Look," she set both outfits on top of a display table of silk scarves and folded her arms across her chest. "I know we have never gotten along."

"That's true," Elizabeth pointed out making Carly roll her eyes.

"And I've always hated how you treated Jason, putting him between you and Lucky. Now Lucky is my cousin but I know Jason and he deserved better."

"You're right," she was woman enough to admit. "Jason did deserve better than the way I treated him. Maybe you think I should just go away so that he and Sam can get back together."

"Sam?" Carly snorted, "Sam McCall? The woman who slept with my husband and got pregnant by him, then moved in across the hall from us with my best friend. The woman who slept with the man who kidnapped me, chained me to a wall and was going kill me and steal my baby?" she shook her head, "No, thank you. I've known Jason deserved better than Sam."

"But you seemed to get along with her," Elizabeth was shocked quite frankly. She had no idea that Carly's animosity was still so strong.

"I accepted Sam because Jason was happy. That's all I ever wanted was for Jason to be happy."

"And you don't think I can make him happy."

"This is what? The fourth time for you two," Carly smiled wryly, "You're almost as bad as me and Sonny were."

"Jason and I are nothing like you and Sonny," she felt obligated to point out. She might not know all the details of their confusing and always tumultuous marriage but she knew with absolute certainty that she and Jason had never hurt each other like Sonny and Carly. The comparison was more than enough to spark her temper.

"Calm down," Carly drawled, "I was kidding, sort of," then she waved away the half assed apology before even making a real effort. "All I meant was that it just seems like the two of you were supposed to be together but stuff kept getting in the way. That's all."

"Okay," she didn't bother to hide her confusion, "I guess."

"Don't make too much of it," she pointed out, "You're still a muffin face, but I guess you're the combination that's right for Jason. Robin was too nice and too much of a know it all. I drove Jason crazy most of the time. Courtney couldn't handle the business and was always trying to change him. Sam, well, the little con artist could handle the business just fine, but was too needy and insecure."

"That's not exactly kind."

"But it's accurate," Carly lifted a shoulder as if to say, she didn't care if it was kind or not. "I guess I always knew you had potential and that's why I hated you. You're nice like Robin, you can handle the business much to my surprise and when it's important you're loyal no matter if anyone else thinks it's a mistake. Jason respects that. You can stand on your own, like raising your son by yourself, Jason really respects that. And you can dish it back to me which_ I _have to respect."

"Because it's all about you right?"

Carly blinked as if she were truly astonished, "Didn't' you know?" And Elizabeth had to grin at the woman's audacity. "Now we'll probably never be best buds."

"Probably not," she quickly agreed.

"But you're giving Jason the family he's always wanted so I'll do my part to keep the peace. I know he cares about you, he always has. I don't know if it's love because he's still hiding his emotions behind that wall of his, but I know you're the one relationship that he's had that is different than all the others."

"That's just not true."

"Stop fishing for compliments," Carly huffed, in annoyance, "When Robin told AJ about Michael, Jason cut her out of his life with no regrets. They're friends now, but he would never consider trusting her that way again. Same with me. And Courtney. Now Sam, I know he tried, but I don't know if he ever would have been able to forget about her sleeping with Ric. On top of that he climbed into the bed with the one who could have been and that just screwed Sam completely."

"That night wasn't planned."

"No but I'd hazard a guess that when it did you didn't' regret it." She bit her lip as if she wanted to say more but then the expression on her face told Elizabeth that she wouldn't. "Just make him happy. Be the person you are, loyal, strong muffin face and Jason will be happy that's all that matters."

She picked up her clothes and turned to walk away, then paused glanced back over her shoulder, "Congratulations by the way," she nodded toward her stomach. "There's a black dress over against the wall that should work for tonight." Then she smiled, a blatantly trouble making Carly smile, "You know you're going to stir up a hell of a lot of trouble tonight when you walk in with Jason. Edward will be singing Quartermaine heir faster than you can whistle."

"I'm not worried about Edward Quartermaine," she answered.

"No reason you for you to be," Carly's smile turned a little melancholy at the edges, "you're exactly the person they would want for Jason."

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Jason fidgeted on the door step after ringing the bell, hating the unexpected bite of nerves that he wasn't used to feeling. He didn't know exactly why he had come here today but he did know it was probably the right thing. The white curtain that covered the glass in the center of the door slid to the side and Cameron appeared, bright smile lighting up his face. The little boy mouthed his name, then streaked away.

A few seconds later, Audrey Hardy appeared and the disapproval on her face was unmistakable. When she opened the door, Cam slipped past her and jumped, and he easily scooped the little boy from the air, settling him on his hip. "Hey Cam."

"Jason!" he breathed excitedly, "Mom told me we're moving next to you. Isn't that great?"

"Yeah, it is," he smiled back at the happiness in Cam's voice. He knew their relationship wasn't always going to be this easy, especially when Cam understood that the changes going on his life were only just beginning. Children were resilient, this he knew from experience with Michael and Morgan, but they still were children and had difficulty understanding the choices the adults in their lives made sometimes. Again he silently promised to do right by this little boy who trusted him.

"Jason," Audrey finally spoke up.

"Mrs. Hardy," he nodded respectfully, "If it's okay, I'd like to speak to you."

"I don't know what you could possibly say," she answered and he understood. Elizabeth had told him about the argument they had last night before she came to him. How her grandmother felt about ending her marriage to Lucky. He was the one who ruined that for Elizabeth. He was the one who was the threat to her granddaughters happiness and well being.

"Cameron, why don't you go back to the kitchen and finish your snack?" Audrey suggested and the little boy looked crestfallen.

"But Jason just got here," Cam pouted.

"And I'll still be here when you finish your snack," Jason reassured him.

"Promise?"

"Promise," he vowed and let Cam slide down so that he could rush back to his snack.

"Come in," Audrey stepped aside, closing the door after him and he had to resist the urge to shove his hands into his pockets to conceal his nerves. "Would you like to sit," she offered and he agreed, slipping off his jacket and handing it to her so that she could hang it in the closet. He sat in the large chair she indicated and watched as the gentile woman settled on the couch across from him. "Now what is it you wish to say to me," she cut right to the heart of the matter.

"I know you don't like me," he began but she surprised him by shaking her head in disagreement.

"That isn't quite accurate. I would say that I don't like the line of work you're in."

"That's fair," he accepted. "I know you're worried about Elizabeth."

"And rightfully so," she pointed out, "I know her marriage was in trouble but to let it deteriorate so far without even seeking help? And this, fascination she's always had for you, it's going to ruin her life."

This was exactly what Alexis had said about Sam, and what each of these women said was the truth. Only he could respect Audrey Hardy's concern a lot more than Alexis' need to control. "I don't want to ruin Elizabeth's life." All he wanted was something a man like him should never hope for.

"Then you should do what's best for her."

"And what's that? Give her up? Abandon my children and Elizabeth?"

She frowned in disbelief, "Of course not! That isn't what I meant at all. Yet I think you know exactly what has to be done."

And he did. Deep down part of him had always known. He wanted Elizabeth, and he refused to give her up, but the last thing he ever wanted was to be a cause of tension between her and her grandmother. "It's not that simple."

"If life was simple, everyone would be experts at it," she said simply, giving no pause or allowance for excuses. "You want to be in a relationship with my granddaughter? You want to be a father, then you have decisions to make. How do you want your children to look at you ten, fifteen years from now? That blind adoration in a four year old's eyes gets disillusioned by sixteen."

"I want to make a good life with her, I want to keep her safe. And I know it's important to her that she has your approval."

"Then choose. What do you want most Jason Morgan Quartermaine." She smiled at the shock he was feeling, "I knew and loved Lila well," she reminded him gracefully. "I also think she would be the first to say that your family should always come first. You can change your name, your life but the person you are deep in side, never truly goes away. The grandson that Lila adored is still there. You know what has to happen to make sure that Elizabeth is happy and safe, don't you?"

It was almost like speaking to Grandmother in a way. While Lila wouldn't presume to tell him what to do, she always managed to get her point across anyway. He could well imagine Audrey Hardy and Lila Quartermaine being good friends.

"Yes I do."

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"Diversification?"

The word was spit out by Tracy Quartermaine as if it were a four letter one. The board members of ELQ sat in the den of the Quartermaine mansion dressed in their evening finest a half hour before their Christmas party was due to begin. Tracy thought she had finally settled any threats to her set as CEO of the Fortune 500 conglomerate but it was obvious that she had underestimated the man who had pulled more back handed stunt in his life than she could ever imagine.

After the condom fiasco ended, and ELQ paid out the ass in civil lawsuits for their negligence, the company had been struggling along vulnerable and ripe for some corporate raider to come along and snatch control of the company from the family then proceed to dismantle it piece by piece.

Each member of the board of directors and all stock holders were present for this coup tonight. Each held in his or her hand a black note book that was the salvation of ELQ. The prospectus was so brilliant in fact that each of them could only wonder how Edward Quartermaine managed to come up with this solution.

"It's ridiculous," Tracy repeated for the fourth time, though even her tone proved she didn't believe her own words.

"On the contrary," Ned felt obligated to point out, "It's a damned good solution, and makes me question how Grandfather came up with it."

"Yes, it does," Monica agreed, "Edward isn't exactly known for his forward thinking."

"Media, Fashion and Cosmetics, Security," Alan turned each page with a look of grudging respect. If the figures listed here were accurate, the family's business would not only be saved, but would leap ahead of it's corporate peers. "Not exactly the staples of ELQ."

"That's what makes the idea so innovative," Ned explained and no one could fail to note his interest. Ned had been so busy running his fledgling music business, but it was obvious he missed the pace of the corporate world. "Publishing, Cable and the Internet, very lucrative fields at the moment. These three companies are sitting right at the forefront and ripe to make their move into their prospective fields. Incorporating them under the ELQ umbrella and we can recoup our losses in the next year instead of five like Tracy initially outlined."

"It's risky," Tracy frowned.

"It's sure as hell is," Ned nodded eagerly, "And just the shake up ELQ needs right now. Fashion is always a booming business, and the little Italian house would fit right into New York fashion world. Security, that one threw me for a moment, then I thought about all the different aspects, government, private and I only wonder why we haven't tapped that market before now."

"You can see form the prospectus, that these are good directions for the company to take," Edward pointed out proudly. The man sounded positively gleeful. They were holding a potential gold mine in their hands and he knew it.

"The only problem is to purchase all of these business, ELQ would need an extremely substantial infusion of capital," Tracy pointed out with a smug smile, "And the only person here with that kind of money is certainly not a man that I would trust not to attempt to steal the company from beneath us."

"I love you too Tracy," Jax smiled, and lifted a glass a champagne in a mock toast. "Unfortunately she's right, where are you planning to get these kinds of funds?"

"Already accomplished," Edward smiled and they all knew that it could only mean trouble. "Alice!" he bellowed out of the door and the tall maid scrambled inside, "Tell him to come in now."

For once the woman didn't seem to mind the order, she in fact smiled as she rushed back out the door to follow directions. The occupants of the room all glanced nervously around at each other, worried about what Edward had up his sleeve this time. Couldn't have been more shocked when the last person they ever expected to see walked inside.

Dressed in a black suit that was simple but extremely elegant and for the first time that any of them had ever witnessed a sleek black, white and red tie. He looked calm, perhaps even a little amused by the attention he was receiving.

"You're joking right?" Tracy jerked from her seat, pointing an accusing finger in his direction. "That brain dead thug?" Jason lifted an eyebrow, but said nothing as everyone continued to stare at him. "You've never done anything for this family in your life. And besides, any money that comes from him is tainted."

"That's not quite true," he lifted a shoulder, "The coffee business is very lucrative."

"The mob you mean," Jax pointed out and Carly who still wore a stunned expression jabbed him sharply in the stomach.

Instead of confronting Jax, he chose to ignore the man, "I'm willing to put up one hundred percent of the capital needed by ELQ."

"And what are the conditions? That you use the company to launder your money," Tracy snapped, "No thank you. We don't need help from the criminal of the family."

"Be quiet mother," Ned said despite the shock on his face, "One hundred percent? There has to be a catch."

"Jason is doing this because he's family," Edward pointed out, very puffed up and proud of his accomplishment.

"That's not exactly true," Jason murmured, then pushed his hands into his pockets.

"See, I told you!" Tracy smiled smugly, "He does want to use the company as a front."

"No," he took a deep breath, looking at Edward, "The security company. I want it."

"Why," the old man looked crushed at the possibility of being double crossed.

"I'm going to need a job soon, I'd just as soon as stick with what I know." He spoke directly to Edward, then held up a hand for a moment, as he left the room leaving them all in stunned silence. He was gone for a second before they all started talking at each other, their voices quickly rising to a dull roar.

Edward saw him first as he re-entered the room, joy leaping into his eyes. Monica gasped, stood covering her mouth with her hands as tears filed her eyes. Carly shook her head and smiled, not even bothering to hide her amusement. And the other Quartermaines just gaped.

"You all know Elizabeth," he spoke up finally. "We're having a baby."

"Babies," Elizabeth nudged him, looking radiant in the black gown that Carly had pointed out in Wyndam's earlier. A simple halter style dress in sheer georgette, the flowing hem beaded in elaborate silver embroidery danced around her ankles, and the dramatic color accentuated the obvious glow of her pregnancy. Her dark hair hung tumbled carelessly down her back in thick curls framing her face were a diamond studs that glittered a dazzling blue just like her eyes.

"Babies," he corrected, taking her hand into his and lacing their fingers together.


	12. Chapter 12

Rated: M

Disclaimer: I don't own them, I just like writing about them

Song Lyrics credit: There You'll Be by Faith Hill

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**_There You'll Be_**

Epilogue

_"In my dreams I'll always see you soar above the sky. In my heart there'll always be a place for you for all my life. I'll keep a part of you with me, and every where I am there you'll be. And every where I am, there you'll be."_

Jason leaned against the doorway and watched Elizabeth rocking their daughter in her arms, trying to settle her down for the rest of the night. He remembered the first night he had heard her singing this song to the twins and he'd asked her about it. The words, they were sad, he had frowned and she had smiled at him and brushed a hand across his cheek in that comforting way of hers that made his heart bloom with love for her.

"They're hopeful," she had told him, "I'm telling our children the story of our lives." Then she had leaned down and pressed a kiss to his mouth. "No matter where I was, no matter how far away you went, you were always with me." Then she surprised him, that soft voice singing sweetly to him this time, _"Cause I always saw in you my light, my strength, and I want to thank you now for all the ways. You right there for me, you right there for me. Always."_

He had tucked the tail of her braid over the shoulder of the pale pink nightgown she had worn to bed and knew in that moment that he would never love anyone as much as he loved her.

A moment.

_A lifetime._

"Did she wake her brother," Jason murmured, smiling when Elizabeth turned slightly toward him, as if she'd always known he was standing there.

"No," she whispered back, "Little Aubrey Rose wants her Daddy." Neither of them had failed to notice how the baby had turned toward him the moment she heard his voice. Before she could say more, there was a soft whine from the crib and Elizabeth chuckled, "Uh, oh, now you've done it."

He walked over to the crib, and lifting the baby into his arms and tucking him neatly against him. Blue eyes blinked open to stare at him owlishly for a second before closing again as Liam Edward snuggled against the warmth of his chest. It had seemed as if the babies had known the sound of his voice from the moment they were born. Probably from all the months he had spent rubbing Elizabeth's stomach and talking to them.

Four months and these two miracles still completely astounded him. Both had Elizabeth's dark hair, though Brie's eyes seemed to be more the color of his, while Liam's were the color and shape of Elizabeth's. Each already had clear and definite dispositions of their own. Brie was bright sunny and all smiles while Liam was calm, that smile when it came was sweet and heart grabbing just like his mother's. Both had their father wrapped firmly around their fingers.

"No," Jason smiled, "He just likes to hear his Momma sing." He settled the sleeping baby back into his crib, then went to take his sister and place her in her own bed, though she wasn't the least bit sleepy, gurgling up at him with a gummy smile. He leaned over and placed a kiss to her forehead. "Time to sleep little Rose," he brushed a hand over her head before stepping away.

He held out a hand and Elizabeth slipped hers into his, lacing their fingers together just as always and he led her from the room, turning off the light leaving only the little elephant lamp on the table on dim. "So," he pulled her into his arms, brushing a kiss over her mouth, "You still plan on marrying me tomorrow?"

The little ceremony would be held in the rose garden at the Quartermaine mansion and would only be attended by their family and friends. So much in their lives had changed so swiftly. He left the business, and though it had been difficult, he couldn't regret the decision. He still watched out for Michael, Morgan, Kristina and Molly because he had given his word that he would but he had a family of his own now and their needs had come first.

Taking over the security firm had been an adjustment, but it was just interesting enough to keep his mind active and interested.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Elizabeth laid her head against his chest, wrapping her arms around his waist and felt happier than she'd ever known she could. Jason had been adamant about getting married by the time she reached her ninth month of pregnancy, but she had insisted that she wasn't waddling down the aisle.

"You know I love you," she could feel him smile as he pressed kiss to her temple.

"I know," and she never doubted, never wondered, because he showed her every day in so many ways how much he cherished her. "I love you too." And in return, she gave him the same.

She was due to return to her nursing next month and was actually looking forward to it. Cam had started school and was attending kindergarten all day now. He and Jason were thick as thieves and there wasn't a better father she would chose for her children. He never treated Cam any differently than Brie or Liam; from the moment they moved into the penthouse, he had considered Cameron to be his son. The adoption papers that would finalize in a few months would make it legal.

Jason lived with them now, using his old penthouse for business mostly so he didn't have to go into his office downtown unless it was necessary. He had made her promise that after their two week honeymoon in Tuscany, she would start looking at those real estate booklets he kept bringing home. The man was insistent on buying her a dream house. She could have told him that it wasn't the place that made it a home; it was the love and the family who lived there. Jason and their children were her dream.

Tomorrow wasn't to be some elaborate wedding, she had that already and that wasn't all it was cracked up to be. It certainly hadn't guaranteed forever. No this feeling that enveloped her every time Jason held her, that was the promise of forever. Nothing was perfect but their friendship was their foundation.

Love, now that was their passion.

_The End_


End file.
